Anthem of the Angels
by bluebear77100
Summary: AU, possible OOC. Features characters in the SPN universe as well as OCs. Divergent path from season 7. Heed warnings inside. Castiel has been through much. Unfortunately, a lot more awaits him as the darkness begins to overtake everything he knows...
1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

***Introduction to the story:

This is not an official chapter. This is basically my explanation (excuse) for the story that will proceed this false chapter one. Some is made up, some is true from the show (when the story begins it is ALL alternate universe utterly, and well yeah. No flames about how this would never happen or is impossible. Yes I do give some crap excuses for certain things in the beginning to make my story actually work but hey, this is just for entertainment purposes and besides, we all know even aired shows sometimes have continuity issues that can be so laughable. Also, fair warning there is going to be inclusion of scenes literally from the show. They are there to aid in the story, to fully understand the character of Castiel and his choices. This is a work of **fiction** and is meant to extend into realities that would never, ever occur in the CW Supernatural universe. Just enjoy it for what it is, a piece of amusing writing. Criticism is not entirely unwelcome. If constructive, it is welcome.

WARNINGS: M rating for sex (including slash pairing), violence, torture and rape (at some point will be included), and well end of the world type stuff that could count as terror I suppose.

Okay so time-wise...Season 7..midway through maybe? (COMPLETE AU, CHARACTERS ARE LIKELY GOING TO END UP OOC. I DO MY BEST WHILE CREATING A STORYLINE THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN SO YEAH...)

*Castiel completed a ritual which gave him the power of millions of souls from Purgatory. Assumed to be corrupted by the souls, he has claimed himself to be a god and demands worship from those who were his friends (Dean, Sam, and Bobby).

*Completely out of options, Sam and Dean, along with Crowley, went to Fate, who led them to the four horsemen. The four horsemen and the Winchesters find the rings and use them to release Michael and Lucifer from his cage...It appeared almost as though something heavenly (and extremely powerful) was helping them because when Lucifer was released from the cage, he came out in his old vessel Nick. The vessel was completely undamaged and seemed to contain him without issue. As soon as the seal to the cage was being opened, someone or something, returned Raphael, Gabriel and Balthazar from death. Michael was released along with Lucifer and Michael was still in his vessel Adam. No sooner had the cage been opened and he appeared back in the field where he had almost battled Lucifer during the apocalypse, when he immediately fled from his vessel and Adam's body crumpled to the ground (Adam no longer occupied it as he had been returned to Heaven during Michael's entrapment in the cage).

THE PAST:

-**Castiel** was always known to be a very curious one. The angel of Thursday was known for his speed. He has always been determined to follow God and whatever he believes is for the good. Always seems to defy the odds. Castiel is considered young by angel standards. He is faithful to God, impatient with others, easily led by others by his hopefulness at times, loyal to Dean Winchester whom he still believes God entrusted him with to watch over and protect, loves humanity, Heaven is his home and he cares for his brothers and sisters (hates fighting them when he is forced to), risks his own safety and well-being for the benefit of others he cares for to a fault perhaps.

*Angels leave trails behind them and only powerful angels (archangels) can sense it. Castiel's grace has a bluish tinge and gives off the scent of morning dew.

-Gabriel was the one to look out for Castiel when he was growing up. Looked out for Uriel too and he majorly picked up on the humor that Gabriel used. Lucifer had wit and cleverness and taught Gabriel (Loki or Trickster) many tricks and pranks.

-Balthazar and him were friends in Heaven and fought together many times. Castiel relished in the relaxed, casual nature of the other. However, Balthazar was known to be selfish and a bit too addicted to the more human aspects such as drinking and sex. Despite those things, Balthazar was the angel Castiel spent the most time with apart from Uriel before the whole fate/apocalypse/Winchesters thing was handed to Castiel as an assignment, along with Uriel and other angels of course.

-Lucifer was known as Light-bringer and Morningstar. He was God's favorite and the most beautiful of all the angels. Cast out of Heaven for refusing to bow down to the humans by Michael. Locked away in Hell for starting a rebellion against God and Heaven. Believes he was punished by God for being right. Mannerisms and personality include tilting his head, sympathy towards others, self-pity, self-righteousness, arrogance, and loneliness. Loves God's original world. The Earth covered in trees, plants, and animals. NOT humans.

REVIEW:

-Michael's location is unknown.

-Fate isn't willing to participate any further in the situation.

-Dean and Sam have been ordered to back off because they are no longer of any use up against something as powerful as what Castiel has become.

-Raphael is still hell-bent on starting the apocalypse but has come to a hold-off with Michael disappearing without a trace. For the time being he has been going along with the others, not knowing what else to do. He cannot move on Heaven with Castiel as strong as he is now. Also, Lucifer would be a mighty powerful force to go up against.

-Balthazar, even though his friend Castiel was the one to murder him, wants to help Castiel because he knows the once angel was only doing what he thought was best for the Earth and Heaven until he was corrupted by the numerous souls.

-Gabriel has promised Dean and Sam that he will save Castiel in their place and then transported the siblings to Bobby Singer and to a safe place for them.

-Crowley is skulking around with the angels, nervously, but also is fully aware he is safest with them since Castiel is still proclaiming that he has plans for the most recent king of Hell.

-Lucifer's curiosity is piqued by Castiel's actions, especially how much they correlate with his own actions in the past. Enlisting the continued aid of the four horsemen, they have a ritual in mind that could stop Castiel's reign of power over everything.


	2. Wake

_**Wake**_

Raphael walked out in front, clearly still believing he was the rightful one to be in charge and in command of the others. Gabriel walked alongside Balthazar while Crowley followed behind the two of them looking as reluctant to be there as ever. The four horsemen were behind them, leaving Lucifer to take up the very back of their assembled force. Raphael seemed disgusted to be in Lucifer's presence, Gabriel couldn't seem to make eye contact with the brother who'd stabbed him through the heart, Crowley was as miserable as ever knowing this was unlikely to turn out well for him no matter what happened, and the four horsemen knew they were doing what they must do and followed without much word or complaint.

Except for War, who wore his familiar family man's suit of skin on from when the Winchesters had run into him in a town he'd caused immense chaos to, and appeared happy to have his ring (and power) back. He spoke occasionally with Balthazar about the more stranger, obscure things in life that the others couldn't really comprehend. Gabriel probably could relate with them but he didn't seem in the mood. Even though he wouldn't even glance in Lucifer's direction, his tense stature told them all he was aware of the Devil's every move.

Their destination was a town with a population of a little over a thousand people. The four horsemen equipped with their rings and in a nearby radius of each other had the power to locate anyone or anything. Something as powerful as the twice-risen angel had become with the millions of souls from Purgatory, was exceptionally easy to find when sought out. Speaking for the other three and himself, Death proclaimed Castiel's location and the angels had transported them all there in a matter of seconds.

As soon as they'd arrived at the edge of town, they had found there was no more town. The buildings were burning and there were bodies everywhere. Their group made it to what could be considered the center of town and that was where he came out to meet them. Castiel seemed to have been expecting their arrival, as he came walking around the side of a building that was completely engulfed in flames. He wore the usual expressionless face and superior demeanor he'd been strutting around with ever since he'd gained god-like power. His eyes skimmed over the four horsemen: briefly pausing on Raphael, Gabriel, and Balthazar, finally landing on Lucifer. Castiel didn't even so much as spare Crowley a glance.

"I felt your presence here on Earth but couldn't quite believe it until now." Castiel said to Satan.

"Desperate times and all that." Crowley said, speaking when all of the angels remained silent and the horsemen kept to the background. Almost as though the four were intentionally trying not to be noticed too much.

The superpowered angel did look at Crowley then, and the look was so eerie and unfamiliar from the typical behavior Castiel had used to exhibit before the ritual to open Purgatory, that the demon wished he hadn't said anything at all. The attention was making him uncomfortable and nervous. He didn't like getting nervous.

"Ah..I see," the former angel turned "god" said.

He closed his eyes, slightly tilting his head to the side, and only a second later one of the three women of fate appeared. Atropos, famous for being the one to cut each string which represented a human life, stood next to Castiel all of a sudden. As soon as she appeared, she jumped back away from Castiel in surprise and fear.

"Castiel!" Managing to gain a little bravado back, she added, "Why have you summoned me here?"

"You showed the Winchester brothers and the hellspawn how to open the cage. And bring angels from death."

These were statements, not questions. Atropos looked at Castiel and then at the angels, as if looking to them for what to answer, before turning back to the intimidating angel in silence.

"You allowed them to open the cage and brought angels from entrapment or death for the purpose of opposing me."

"Castiel, wait, please. I-"

With a snap of his fingers she exploded into a pool of blood and gore, ceasing to exist. Raphael flinched as it had been the way he had been destroyed by Castiel not so long ago. Lucifer on the other hand, actually appeared interested. Balthazar vanished with only the sound of a brief fluttering of his wings to signal he was gone. Frightened away it would seem. Lucifer turned to the horsemen and told them to go. They did. He then focused his attention on Castiel and the murder he had just committed.

"Castiel, I have never seen you kill except to protect yourself or others. You stood firmly in your beliefs even against impossible odds and stood against myself and Michael to your death. Have these extra souls really changed you so?" Lucifer asked him with the utmost curiosity.

Castiel didn't answer him. He was staring at Crowley. "Where are they?"

"Sorry mate. Telling you where they are, does me no good. The way you've been running around annihilating anyone who doesn't want to worship you, I figure I'm better off keeping my mouth shut."

"You are disobeying me now." Castiel informed the demon.

Crowley chuckled softly. It was a weak one though, sounding a tad forced. "Either way you're going to incinerate me so I think I'll just go out quietly."

"When have you been known to be quiet?"

It would have been humorous perhaps, if the situation wasn't so deadly serious. Castiel took a step forward, malicious intent obvious, and Lucifer was the only one not to take an instinctive step back. Him and Gabriel actually. The archangel appeared to finally be standing strong and confident again, even if it meant standing beside the angel who killed him.

Balthazar's reappearance halted any action that might have taken place. He stood off to the right of the angels and others, and he had brought two people with him.

"You shouldn't have brought them here, moron. Castiel wants them here!" Crowley protested with annoyance.

Balthazar ignored the demon, his eyes on the Winchesters. "Good luck."

Raphael stared at the three newly arrived people. "What exactly is your plan, Balthazar?"

"Yes, what are your intentions? Do you pledge loyalty to me or will I need to end you again?"

The angel gritted his teeth. "Hey, that smarts you know. I betrayed Castiel's trust plain and simple and probably deserved what I got. But what you are..it can't be my friend, it can't. So the way I see it, these boys the old Cas seemed to care about so much may be the only thing to get him back."

Lucifer came closer to Castiel. "So you can see it too. The grace..it's..."

"Buried." Balthazar finished. "Castiel's grace, it's as though it's barely there, buried beneath all those souls I suppose."

"Yes..or maybe..." Lucifer trailed off thoughtfully.

Dean seemed to pick up on what the two angels were getting at. "Is it even possible? Can an angel be possessed?"

Raphael, Crowley, Gabriel, and Sam were stunned by the insinuation, while Lucifer and Balthazar stayed without reaction.

"I have never seen or heard of such a thing, and that, is saying much." Raphael informed them.

Dean frowned, as though all his hopes and dreams had just been stomped on. Balthazar looked confused, like he'd made some mistake he didn't understand, while Lucifer didn't appear deterred in the slightest.

"Who are you? Castiel is in there I feel it. But there is something dark that clouds his grace."

"Are you a fool? Raphael has told you, it isn't possible. Angels cannot be possessed." Castiel told him.

The brief aversion of Castiel's eyes from all of them informed them of everything they needed to know.

"Holy crap. " Sam breathed out.

"All this time..Cas! You in there?" Dean questioned.

"I-am-Castiel!"

Everyone seemed uncertain what to think anymore but Lucifer seemed more confident than ever.

"I know you aren't an angel. I created demons. I know one when I see the filthy thing. What is your name?"

Castiel looked frustrated that they weren't listening to him. "I know I am not an angel. I am the new god. This I have said before."

"Cas if you're in there, please, you gotta take control."

The self-proclaimed god shook his head sadly, as if giving up on trying to convince what should be clear. He lowered his head, eyes closing slowly.

"Fine."

The former angel raised his head. The soft blue eyes of his vessel Jimmy Novak had been replaced with completely black eyes and red irises.

"You got me. Took you long enough though." Not-Castiel said to them, a very unlike Castiel smirk coming across his face.

He shifted his look to Sam and Dean. "The moment you stabbed him in the back, Sam, that was the moment I took the opportunity of his shock at the utter betrayal of his friends, and took control of the vessel."

A smile that could only be described as evil appeared. "You know, he's still in here. He used to rage around with all his might, struggling to get back control. Got real quiet after the first month or so though. When you couldn't see it wasn't him boys, well, I reckon that tore him all up inside. I thought angels weren't supposed to show emotions but that is definitely not the case for your Castiel."

"I asked for your name demon." Lucifer said, hands tightening into fists.

Not-Castiel moved his eyes over to Lucifer. "Hey, dad," the sarcasm was evident in his tone upon saying the word "dad". "Don't remember your own creation? I came after Lilith so I am pretty old. I would have figured being one of your firsts would have earned some recognition. Clearly I was wrong. I'm the demon of despair. My name is Avram."

The demon raised a hand and closed his fingers into a closed grip in the direction of Dean and Sam. Dean, who had been attempting to creep up on the demon, hunched over at the waist. He clutched at his chest, face tightening in pain, and gasped out in pain.

"Dean!" Sam shouted and ran to his brother, kneeling beside him.

"Stop it!" He yelled at Avram.

The old and powerful demon only reclenched his fist, bringing on a fresh onslaught of pain to the older brother's body. He licked his lips, in what could only be described as hungrily, as he stared at Dean.

"I'm going to eat your soul." Avram declared, sounding excited about the prospect.

His excitement waned and then dissipated entirely when he noticed Balthazar was now behind him and Raphael was further on his right. Gabriel was shifting to his left, close to the Winchesters, and Lucifer remained front and center, Crowley hovering slightly behind the fallen angel.

"What are you doing?"

"As the new god, shouldn't you know all?" Dean demanded in his typical growl of a voice used when he was angered.

Now that he wasn't having his chest filled with agonizing pain, he was getting to his feet and squaring his shoulders beside his brother and the archangel Gabriel. Dean pulled out what he'd had hidden in his jacket pocket. He held the demon killing knife but the weapon had new runes carved into it and the runes were glowing bright. Without another second of hesitation he dropped abruptly to one knee and jammed the blade into the ground. Energy pulsed from it and the reaction from Avram was immediate.

"You dare bind me to this place?!" He howled.

Balthazar, Raphael, Lucifer, and Gabriel all began a chant in Enochian simultaneously, and by the time they were done Avram was infuriated. The words seemed to be sapping strength from the demon, perhaps somehow affecting the very souls within him.

"You can take the souls and send them through but try and put me back to Purgatory and I'll drag the angel with me!"

Gabriel pulled a jar from his jacket. It was a jar filled with blood. He removed the lid and began to draw symbols onto the street. It was the ones needed to complete the ritual of opening up the door to Purgatory.

"You're not taking Cas!" Dean yelled. "Let him go!"

"Ha!" Avram scoffed. "The angel will die! I'm not going to that place. Not after it's been altered so! I'm staying right here on Earth. I like it here!"

Crowley came two steps closer to the possessed angel and the symbol Gabriel had drawn on the ground and recited the chant for the Purgatory ritual. An angry growl escaped the demon and then he was flung against the side of a building as a brilliant light began to emanate from the vessel.

"Cover your eyes!" Gabriel ordered in warning.

He meant the warning for them all. Even the angels turned away and shielded their eyes from the light of the millions of souls as they burst from the vessel and flew towards the symbol Gabriel had drawn on the floor and into it, vanishing completely. After about a minute, the light faded and unfortunately Avram was still there, the red in his dark eyes seeming to glow even more brightly as his fury grew.

Crowley was looking jittery again. "We need to complete the ritual in a timely manner. All of them need to be returned to Purgatory, that includes Avram. If that means throwing Castiel in too, then that's what needs to be done."

"Shut up! We're not putting Cas in there!" Dean shouted angrily.

Crowley said nothing but was looking antsy. The gate would remain open for only so long before the window for getting rid of Avram was lost. It was Sam who moved to stand in front of Avram to try and reach Castiel somewhere inside of the vessel.

"Cas, you were the one who held off the archangels so Dean could try to stop me from killing Lilith, breaking the final seal. He was too late but you tried to help stop the apocalypse. You did what was right. Then you continued to sacrifice everything, cut off from Heaven, to help us put Lucifer back in the cage. You saved me from Hell, raised me from the cage. Fought a civil war to prevent the apocalypse from coming around again. You sacrificed so much and when we didn't agree with a plan of yours, we turned on you. I can imagine how that must have felt, I do. I've been very nearly in your shoes, where nobody trusted me and I turned out to be wrong and it started the apocalypse. Now look at what has happened after you've done your ritual, Cas. Look at what you've done to this town."

"The unfaithful and disloyal must be smited." Avram sneered in a mock imitation of Castiel's voice which he'd used when he'd pretended to be an angel with a god-complex. Sam ignored him.

"These people were innocent and you killed them. The Castiel I know would never do that. Think about it. Is this what you really wanted? Your brothers have come together to stop you. For them to come together like that to stand against you, you've gotta realize you must be doing something pretty bad. Cas, what I'm trying to say here..is that I get it. I get why you did what you did but now you've gotta take a look around you and see the consequences of your decision to open Purgatory. You made the wrong choice like I once made the wrong choice. Please, don't let it go as far as it did with my..major mistake. This isn't you Cas, and you know it. You're good and you've done so many selfless things. You died for Dean and me, twice. We shouldn't have turned on you and we should have at least heard your plan out. For not doing that, for not treating you like the brother we swore you were to us, I am sorry. I am so sorry."

Dean caught on to what Sam was trying to do for Castiel. The younger Winchester was showing the angel how much he meant to them.

"Please come back to us as the old Cas. The one who never failed to be there for us and who was the strongest and most determined and stubborn damn guy we've ever met, right Sam?"

"Right. Those souls have corrupted you. They must have. And then this, this demon got the better of you. This isn't you and we trust you to make the right decision now and come back to us. Can you do that for us, Cas? For me and Dean? No, not for us, for God and for the good of Heaven. You're strong enough to take that demon, Castiel. I know you are."

Avram's head slumped to his chest and when he brought it back up, the vessel's bright blue eyes were showing once more.

Dean came closer, only a few feet from him now. "Cas? That you?"

When a smile came over the angel's face, he knew this wasn't Castiel but the demon playing tricks.

"Nah, I'm just screwing with you," the demon admitted with a grin.

His hand shot out quicker than Dean though possible and wrapped around his neck, squeezing.

"Do you want to know a secret? About the angel you care so much about." Avram began, smirking at Dean who was choking in his grasp.

"Let him go, Avram! I'm gonna send you into Purgatory if it's the last thing I do!"

The demon's black and red eyes flashed back into appearance as his head snapped to the left where Sam and Gabriel were. It was Sam who had spoken and he was looking furious with the demon currently strangling his brother.

"But I haven't told you about your angel. After he gave up fighting to get free of my control over this vessel's body, before he sunk into near inexistence, the angel used to say the same thing to himself over and over. It's what told me I wouldn't have to worry about the celestial being anymore. It's what told me I had won."

Dean renewed his efforts to free himself from the demon's grasp. No one moved to help him. The angels seemed unwilling to give up their positions. Their positions which would prevent Avram from escaping should he try to run. Sam looked like he didn't know what to do because he couldn't just charge an extremely powerful demon. One even more powerful than demons he'd come across in the past like Azazel or Alastair, because this demon still retained the power of the 50,000 souls Crowley had loaned to Castiel from Hell when the two first made their agreement to work together to open Purgatory.

"Castiel, right?" Avram asked. "Castiel used to say to himself; 'I had wings to fly, a heart filled with strength, hope and faith, my grace bright and pure. All weakened and made faint by the blade that pierced my flesh, destroying the last remnants of hope that I had left.'"

Sam looked surprised, so did Dean. But they didn't look confused.

"He was talking about you, Sam Winchester. When you stabbed him in the back you broke him down enough for me to take over completely. I thank you for that by the way. It's been loads of fun riding an angel."

"Shut up you ugly piece of shit!" Dean snarled. "I'll kill you for what you did to Cas!"

"What I did? I just took control of someone who didn't have the will to keep going himself. What about what you did? You turned your back on him. All of his friends, including you, turned their backs on him when he came to you for help. Castiel was in doubt about his decision to open Purgatory and he came to you. You gave him nothing but betrayal. Even you, Balthazar." Avram shifted to look at the angel behind him. "You betrayed a very old friend. So what about what you did? Why all the focus on me?"

Dean was suddenly released from the demon's grasp, dropping to the ground.

"You're wrong." Avram said. "It isn't about you and never was."

Dean scrambled back and stood, watching the demon warily. "What?"

"It began with two brothers who loved each other and betrayed each other. And that's how it will end I imagine. But the thing I've learned being around the humans is that nothing is certain and fate can be altered or changed entirely."

Lucifer, who still stood in the demon's front line of sight along with Crowley, came closer with questioning eyes.

"Castiel?"

Avram's eyes changed to Jimmy Novak's blue eyes as they shifted from Lucifer to Sam. "Thank you, Sam Winchester. This time it is you who saved me."

The angel's usually gentle blue eyes hardened. "You have done much evil to innocents, demon. Get-out."

The eyes shifted back to the black and red eyes of the demon. "You think it will be that easy to get rid of me?! I own you!"

"You own nothing and your time to return to Purgatory is long overdue." Castiel had his blue eyes back and he actually smiled his own small smile. "Out."

Castiel was thrown onto the ground, his mouth opening, as an enormous cloud of dark black smoke began to emerge from it. Avram was pushed out of the vessel with a howl of fury and distress while Castiel's vessel shook and rocked from the force of the being leaving it. It was all over in a minute. The demon upon leaving the vessel was forced into Purgatory through the gateway, unable to escape the angels who had it cornered, and then the way shut completely only seconds after it went in. The vessel of Jimmy Novak laid on the ground motionless and Dean was the first to dare approach it, Sam moving up to stand by his brother as well.

"Cas?" Dean asked quietly.

The trench-coat wearing angel opened his eyes and moved to stand. The attempt to stand was shaky and so Dean and Sam each went to a side and helped Castiel to remain upright. Surprisingly, he appeared angered by their aid and shook them off to stand alone.

"I'm fine."

Dean stared at him in disbelief. "Like hell you are."

Castiel looked at him, expressionless. "I don't need your help, Dean Winchester."

The brothers both stared at the angel together in confusion until Sam said something.

"Cas, what's the deal here?"

"Both of you need to stay far away from me. I will not warn again."

"All right Cas, now you're weirding me out." Balthazar admitted. "What's going on? That possession knock some marbles loose or something?"

"I saw..I saw what will come to pass unless someone stops it. I saw what will become of Earth, Heaven, and lastly Hell, should Purgatory fall."

"Purgatory? What about Purgatory?" Crowley demanded. "Look, I'm sure your talk is all fine and dandy and meaningful to the angels my fine-feathered friend, but what I care about at the moment, is our arrangement. The souls I loaned you from Hell, I'd like them back."

"No."

The king of Hell gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me? I believe the word you were searching for was..yes."

"I need them. I will use the power the souls give me to go to Purgatory. I must save Heaven from Purgatory's reach. It is God's will and I must atone for my sins by doing this."

"Brother," Lucifer spoke up. "You can hardly stand. How exactly do you plan to take on the forces of Purgatory? You have no way of getting there anyway."

"I will find a way."

"Castiel! We just got you back. We're not gonna let you run off on some suicidal mission!" Dean shouted.

"Why do you have such doubt in me? Again..."

It was Sam who stepped up to talk this time. "Cas, we trust you, we do. But you're not at full strength and-hey! Raphael, stop!"

Sam's protests were not enough to keep the archangel Raphael from placing a hand to Castiel's forehead as he appeared suddenly behind the other angel.

"The Host of Heaven grants me the power and the right to take the souls you have acquired from Hell. You had no right to them, Castiel." Raphael informed the angel.

Bright light flooded from Castiel and ended after a brief moment. Castiel looked like he was going to keel over, while Crowley seemed extremely ticked off.

"The souls have been taken to Heaven because you, demon, had no right to give them away in the first place." Raphael explained with total self-righteousness in his actions.

Crowley seethed with rage but he did nothing. Instead he fixed the archangel with one final glare before disappearing from sight. Though Castiel was sweating and looked like he was going to collapse at any moment, he remained standing.

"Raphael."

One of Raphael's eyebrows arched with curiosity as he partially turned in Castiel's direction. "You wish for me to do something for you? Very well, I will help you this one time. What is it?"

"Take them away from me. Take them to safety."

"A particular destination?"

"Take them to their friend Bobby Singer's home."

"Cas, no!" Dean yelled at the angel.

"Dean, maybe he has a point." Sam started to say.

He didn't have a chance to continue as Raphael appeared in front of them and touched each of them on the shoulder, transporting them away along with himself. As soon as the Winchester brothers were gone, Castiel began to slide to the ground. Lucifer was nearest and caught the young angel before he could hit the hard concrete completely. Despite the clear exhaustion he was feeling, the angel tried to free himself from Lucifer's grasp to stand again but then Balthazar and Gabriel reached them. The archangel placed his hand on Castiel's forehead, mirroring almost completely how Raphael had done so earlier.

"Rest." Gabriel ordered softly.

Castiel's eyelids slid shut and his forced, but much needed sleep began.


	3. History

_**History**_

When Castiel finally awoke from a most deep and restful slumber, he felt a presence very close to him. He was surprised to see Lucifer was the one keeping watch over him as he slept. A smile from the Devil upon seeing that the angel was awake was even more surprising.

"Castiel, I trust you slept well. Though I suppose it must seem strange to sleep at all when you ordinarily have no need of it."

Immediately he sat up, not wanting to be lying down around Satan. He truly wished to be standing but was afraid to make any sudden movements around the other. Instead he opted to observe Lucifer warily, ashamed of his fear. Castiel could feel the power positively radiating from the other being and knew he wouldn't stand a chance against the Devil in a fight. Still he wouldn't even hesitate to go out fighting against the man if it came to that.

Lucifer sighed, seeing the tension in Castiel's shoulders as the younger angel sat upright on the motel room's bed watching him. He seemed to be able to sense how the other was reading him at the moment.

"I am not so different from you, brother. Why do you continue to see me as an enemy? As something..evil?"

"You persist to destroy all of mankind. As long as you pursue that endeavor I will oppose you."

"What if I were to say that I have a proposal for you?" Lucifer asked.

"You mean a deal. You want me to make a deal with the Devil."

The fallen angel sighed again. "I wish you wouldn't use the name the humans have for me."

For a brief moment Castiel swore he saw a touch of sadness in Lucifer's eyes. When he caught himself feeling guilty about likely causing the alien emotion, he quickly shook the thinking from his head. He shouldn't have any sympathy for the Devil. The angel turned away from the penetrating ice blue eyes that felt as though they could see right into him.

"Where are we?" He asked, hoping to take the attention from what Lucifer wanted to talk about.

It didn't work.

"The deal, Castiel. Listen to what I have to propose and then make your decision. Hear me out."

"I won't make a deal with you."

"I believe you will."

Silence reigned between them for a full minute, their eyes locked until Castiel forced his eyes to look away. The longer he looked, the more he began to feel something inside of him. Something he couldn't quite pinpoint. All he knew was that he liked the feeling and could stare into those eyes forever, feeling the warmth of Lucifer's grace contained inside his vessel. He glanced Lucifer's way again and thought about how maybe he did know what he was feeling and couldn't believe it was possible.

Lucifer was looking at him, head tilted partially to the side in a thoughtful manner. Castiel wondered if the other man knew what he was thinking. He quickly disregarded the thought. Satan was known to be extremely powerful but he couldn't read minds.

"When I first met you in Carthage, Missouri, I didn't remember right away." Lucifer began. "Afterwards I thought about our meeting quite a bit and then I recalled my memories of you. We have met before, Castiel. We knew one another in Heaven. Do you remember?"

Castiel knew his surprise was evident in his expression but he chose not to care. The surprise was followed by enormous wonderment at the comment.

"Understandable for it to escape you. You were only a youngling, learning the way of the angels and of Heaven, and it has been ever so long since I've been home."

"Tell me."

His desire to know what Lucifer was talking about won out over caution he typically regarded the other with. Maybe it should have bothered him that the Devil seemed pleased with the response from his musing but it didn't. At least he wasn't talking about making some sort of deal anymore.

Perhaps Lucifer was aware, but Castiel never noticed Raphael, Gabriel, and Balthazar appear in the room with only the usual quiet flutter of their wings. As Lucifer began to tell a story, the youngest angel of all in the room, couldn't tear his gaze from the fallen one.

"God was creating all manner of creatures on Earth. It was a beautiful sight to behold and you, Castiel, couldn't get enough of it. You were small, a child, and ever the curious one. You were always asking so many questions, it drove the archangels insane with how eager you were to understand every little thing. When God filled the ocean with life, there was a fish that was flopping around on the beach. The fish was working hard to throw itself back into the ocean and when you saw it, you wanted to play with it."

Castiel smiled. It felt like the first real smile he'd made in a very long time.

"Don't step on that fish, Castiel. Big plans for that fish," he said, knowing that was what Lucifer was going to say next. "That's what was said to me. I remember now, it was you who said that to me."

"Yes, that's right."

"You showed me a lot of things."

Lucifer nodded. The two angels sat beside one another for a moment with the utmost contentment.

"Lucifer..."

"Yes, Castiel?"

"Why do you hate the humans so much?"

For the first time, Lucifer took his eyes from Castiel to stare at the bed. It only lasted a few seconds and then he was looking him directly in the eyes again. The way Lucifer could do that so unflinchingly was unnerving, and impressive at the same time.

"I love the world God made and served God loyally and with total faith. Then He created the humans and I knew they would ravage the world I loved so much. I knew they could never appreciate all God had given them. I was abandoned by Father, struck down by my own brother, and thrown into a dark and horrible place. I was right too. The humans have ravaged this planet, whole species gone extinct, polluting the skies with their deadly fumes. That is why I hate the humans, why I always will. Does my answer satisfy you?"

The older angel smiled as he answered his own question. "How could it when you care for the humans so much that you sacrifice your own well-being for them."

There was silence between the two once more and this time, Castiel wasn't sure how to define it. Another voice saved them from finding out how long the silence might have gone on.

"Is..everything all right in here?"

Gabriel had asked the question and he was looking directly at Castiel when he asked it. Raphael and Balthazar stood on either side of the archangel turned trickster. Castiel did stand up then. A slight shift in his stance would be the only thing visible to the human eye, but to the other four angels in the room, they were able to see him attempt to unfold his wings and fly away. His wings unfurled, long and beautiful, but the angel went nowhere and the others didn't react in the slightest.

The recently possessed angel closed his eyes as he tried to flap his wings another time. He found himself unsuccessful once again and closed his wings, disappearing them back into his vessel. Maintaining his stiff, emotionless stance, he turned his head towards Lucifer as the older angel spoke.

"I'm sorry I kept it from you."

"You are keeping me here." Castiel noted out loud and moved his gaze to Raphael, now in a new male vessel. "Am I to be punished?"

Gabriel chuckled loudly. "Aww..Cas, really, that's cute. We're not gonna hurt ya. We brought you here to let you rest."

"I am a prisoner."

"Cas," Balthazar explained. "Relax, okay. They just don't want you running off to the Winchesters when there's a problem at hand that you can help with."

Castiel was focused on Raphael though and he seemed weary about something concerning the archangel. Balthazar, and the other two as well likely, were picking up on the discomfort and trapped feeling that had overcome the younger angel and knew they would get nowhere this way.

"Err..okay boys, something we need to talk about?"

Gabriel looked at Raphael and then Castiel. "Well? Come on, you could cut the tension with a knife. Get out with it."

"He will kill me." Castiel said simply.

"As well I should!" Raphael declared, looking angry. "Or perhaps another go with the reconditioning, eh Castiel? Clearly we didn't get through to you the last time we dragged you out of your vessel and into Heaven. Your civil war is over. Your duty is to serve Heaven."

"Whoah, you tried to "recondition" Cas?" Balthazar queried, using his fingers to make air quotes on the word recondition.

Every angel knew that reconditioning was Heaven's word for torture when an angel was disobedient to their superiors. The accented angel's voice became more hostile.

"I oughta kill you right here and now."

"You're welcome to try. Right after I dispose of the renegade angel standing in front of me." Raphael said bluntly.

The archangel started toward Castiel with obvious intent to kill. He made it a few feet before Lucifer came between them, placing a palm on Castiel's chest to keep him back while raising the other hand in front of him as a sign for Raphael to stop.

"Really, brother, you're the only one toting the company line anymore. The way of Heaven has changed. Michael has failed to return to Heaven and not everyone wishes to follow you," the Light-bringer pointed out. "Leave Heaven alone for now and focus on the situation at hand. Otherwise it will be you who lets Heaven come to ruin."

His last words did bring Raphael pause then. "What do you mean ruin?"

Lucifer lowered the hand raised in the air and shifted to look at the trench-coat wearing angel who appeared somewhat frustrated. Apparently Castiel was in the mood to be stubborn.

"I will tell you nothing. Why should I trust any of you? Two of you deceived me in the past and two of you killed me."

After speaking the words, Castiel frowned and massaged his temple for a moment before maintaining his emotionless and unreadable composure. No one noticed or made it known if they did happen to.

"He has a point." Gabriel piped up.

"No one asked you." Lucifer said coldly, definitely sounding like the deadly king of Hell he was known to be.

For a moment the younger archangel seemed unnerved with the tone his brother used with him but then shrugged it off with a laugh, coming over to sling an arm over Castiel's shoulders.

"Castiel will help us cause we're his brothers, right?"

The only response Gabriel received was silence. Balthazar took a good look at the room. Raphael stood a mere three feet away from Castiel with a look that promised death still trained on him. Lucifer's hand still rested on his chest and with Gabriel having his arm wrapped around the angel as well, it was no wonder his friend wasn't feeling in the mood to chat with any of them.

"Okay! Well as great as this little love fest has been, I think a different tact is in order, yes? Such as treating Cas there with a little respect. I mean come on, for not being even close to as strong as an archangel, he's managed to beat and survive you lot plenty a time."

Raphael looked ready to dispute Balthazar's statement, Gabriel removed his arm from Castiel while Lucifer lowered his hand to his side, but it was a different angel's arrival that broke the silence. The angel was in a male vessel with dark hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a black dress jacket over a light blue t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. His expression was solemn and he held himself straight and proper, hands clasped behind his back.

"Raphael, I bring news."

"Now is not a good time, Suriel. What is so important you must interrupt my business?"

The angel examined his surroundings for the first time and more importantly, who was standing in them. When he saw Lucifer it caused him to hesitate and the momentary hesitation was enough to bring irritation into Raphael's voice the next time he spoke.

"Suriel! Report."

"I have a new prophesy from one of our prophets. The one known as Chuck. You should be aware he has already informed the Winchesters and their friend Bobby Singer of the prophesy by means of telecommunication."

"They're calling out to you now, aren't they Castiel." Lucifer noted, turning to examine the young angel. "That is why your head is bothering you. They call, you ignore. That's the way it should be. You shouldn't follow orders from such weak, pathetic creatures."

Castiel said nothing and Suriel snuck a glance at him, but only a brief one as Raphael's wilting stare was fixed upon him as he awaited the message.

"The prophesy was given to him by Joshua and the message is this: The long-awaited fight between Michael and Lucifer will take place soon. One will die while the other shall survive. Purgatory and the rest of the world can be saved but only by one marked with the Darkness is the final hope. The marked one is an angel of the Lord who will be betrayed by one thought to be an ally, taken by the Dark Ones for his visions of past and present. This angel, the last hope, is one who defends humanity with everything he has to offer and twice has been brought back from death for his personal sacrifice in order to save the world. If the angel cannot find a way to save the world this time, no one will and the world, along with Heaven and Hell, shall fall into eternal darkness. If the angel does succeed and the final fight between Michael and Lucifer takes place, the angel, savior of all, shall die at the hands of Lucifer."

"Castiel, this is not the first time you have heard this prophesy," said Raphael.

It was a statement, not a question, and one the angel didn't hear because he was currently occupied with staring at Lucifer and the grace within. Lucifer's actual form, his grace, was so stunningly beautiful that it made Castiel's heart ache every time he saw the fallen angel. The moment he felt that Raphael allowing Suriel into the room had also broken the spell that kept angels from leaving, Castiel teleported away.


	4. Trust

_**Trust**_

When Castiel appeared outside Bobby Singer's home and knocked on the door, soon to be let in by the owner of the house, Bobby led him into a room where Sam and Dean Winchester were waiting. He wondered immediately if he should have bothered coming there because the first thing Dean did was glare at him.

"Cas! It's about time! Where have you been? After all that, you send us to Bobby's without a clue about what's going on. I mean, what the hell man?!"

Sam kept silent as did Bobby but Dean seemed to have no interest in following their example.

"We ended up hearing it all from Chuck. The guy was freaked out about some sort of world ending situation going on and said you were right at the center of it because of your experience with being empowered by so many souls."

"I wasn't the one empowered by the souls. It was the demon, Avram." Castiel said.

"Doesn't seem to matter you were possessed by a demon pretty much the whole time. I don't know why, Cas, but that's what Chuck told us and you know this all already don't you. Please, don't start lying to us again."

The tone of the older Winchester brother's voice had become one of pleading. That was when Sam stepped in too.

"Cas, Chuck told us something else too."

Castiel knew the brothers well. He recognized Sam's statement was leading. It was providing him a chance to tell the truth to them. To show them he trusted them enough to be honest.

"He told you of the prophesy." Castiel said to them.

Dean's expression softened. "Yeah, yeah that's right. That angel described in it, sounds a lot like you. I mean, how many angels can say they've died twice, right?"

The angel said nothing. Bobby used the opportunity to say something himself.

"Your involvement with the prophesy aside, that whole bit about Earth, Heaven, and Hell falling into eternal darkness doesn't exactly sound like a picnic for us. So what's that about? Any idea what's going on out there?"

"I fear I may have to go to Purgatory," the celestial being commented. "That should be avoided at all costs. Purgatory was not a pleasant place before apparently being overcome by some sort of darkness. I would rather not go there."

"There's no I, Cas, it's we." Dean said. "We might have to go to Purgatory cause we aren't gonna leave you alone."

"You don't trust me."

Sam and Bobby looked uncomfortable but Dean just narrowed his eyes.

"Don't see a reason why I should right now. After the stunt you pulled, letting that demon get the better of you like that, I can't."

Castiel looked away. His thoughts turned to his recent encounter with Lucifer in the motel room. He couldn't deny that seeing Lucifer again had been somewhat of a comfort. The amazing grace of his, that shone with a pure white light, reminded him of home. It did more than that. Being in Lucifer's presence made him feel like he was actually in Heaven.

"Look, Cas, we want to trust you, we do." Sam began. "You're like family to us and you've always been there for us and we know that. So lets just work together on this one and get back to where we were."

"You will never know me." Castiel told him.

When he saw how shocked the brothers looked at his words, he added more to it to clear up his meaning.

"I mean it isn't possible for you to. I have lived for thousands of your lifetimes and know much more than you ever could. That is all I am saying."

The Winchesters still seemed a bit unnerved by what the angel had said but Bobby was ready to move on.

"So..how do we stop it? This darkness from spreading. What exactly is it gonna do to the planet anyway?"

"I don't know," admitted Castiel.

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Well that's just great."

"Unnhh..."

"Cas? Cas, what's wrong?"

Castiel was clutching his head and swiftly dropped to the floor, having full on seizures. Dean dropped to his knees, hands hovering over the quaking body, and began panicking.

"What do I do? What do I do?"

Sam and Bobby looked equally horrified. After a moment Sam yelled for Dean to try and keep his head still. The older brother didn't get a chance to follow the suggestion because suddenly the demon Crowley was standing next to Bobby in the room, diverting their attention. A flick of his wrist cracked one of the windows with an angel ward symbol newly drawn on it.

"What are you doing?!" Dean yelled.

"Saving your fine-feathered friend, you idiot," was the demon's reply.

Castiel was still seizing when Raphael, Gabriel, Lucifer, Balthazar, and Suriel appeared in the room, standing near the doorway.

"What did you do? Did you do this to Cas?" Sam demanded.

"Of course not," the one male, most likely an angel like the other arrivals, that Bobby and the Winchester brothers didn't recognize, said to them.

Gabriel and Lucifer moved immediately over to Castiel and the younger of the two grabbed hold of Castiel's head, keeping it in place as the rest of the body flailed about. Lucifer tried to keep the shaking body down with only his hands but when that didn't work, he moved to sit on top of the angel's legs and held down the arms with his hands. Once he was held still, Raphael came to kneel with one knee beside Castiel's head and placed his hand on the other's head. He began to speak words in Enochian that only the angels could understand and when the archangel ceased his chant, Castiel became motionless, eyes remaining closed.

Dean calmed down but was looking confused and uncertain now. Sam's reaction matched his brother's almost identically. Castiel's eyes opened and his blue eyes became pure light from his grace. That was when the images began. Images everyone could see, demon, angel, and human eyes alike.

An image of Dean Winchester appeared first and foremost. The image was speaking and the volume was loud and clear.

_"Why break the seal anyway?"_ Dean was saying.

_"You think of the seals as locks on a door,"_ a voice belonging to someone they couldn't see explained.

_"Okay, last one opens and..."_ Dean let his voice trail off.

The owner of the voice appeared as an image himself now. It was Castiel and he was answering Dean.

_"Lucifer walks free."_

Dean was staring at Castiel with great astonishment. _"Lucifer? But I thought Lucifer was just a story they told. At demon Sunday school. There's no such thing."_

_"Three days ago, you thought there was no such thing as me. Why do you think we're here walking among you now for the first time in 2,000 years?"_

Dean's response was quiet. _"To stop Lucifer."_

Castiel nodded. _"That's why we've arrived."_

_"Well, bang-up job so far. Stellar work with the witnesses. That's nice."_

_"We tried. There are other battles, other seals. Some we'll win, some we'll lose. This one we lost."_

The older Winchester brother let out a mocking snort. Castiel came closer to him.

_"Our numbers are not unlimited. Six of my brothers died in the field this week. You think the armies of Heaven should just follow you around? There's a bigger picture here."_

Castiel paused in his speech a moment and leaned close to Dean's face. The latter looked uncomfortable under the angel's intense stare.

_"You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in."_

Castiel disappeared and then both images, along with the room they'd been standing in, vanished only for a different room to appear. This room had less space and looked like it could possibly be in someone's house. Everyone watching the images recognized the prophet by the name of Chuck Shurley, along with Castiel and Dean as being the three present in the room. Castiel was talking to Dean while Chuck kept quiet, seeming to want to make himself as small as possible.

_"You must understand __why I can't intercede. Prophets are very special, they're protected."_

_"I get that."_

_"If anything threatens a prophet, anything at all, an archangel will appear to destroy that threat. Archangels are fierce, they're absolute, they're heaven's most terrifying weapon."_

_"And these archangels, they're tied to prophets?"_

_"Yes."_

_"So if a prophet was in the same room as a demon...?"_

_"Then the most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon."_ Castiel informed Dean, giving him a very meaningful look. _"Just so you understand why I can't help."_

_"Thanks, Cas."_

_"Good luck."_

The images grew fuzzy and distorted until the same two people were now standing in an expensively decorated room. The angels knew this place. It was a room the angels used where humans could be kept to wait. A sort of safe room where only those with permission could enter. Dean's tone was angry.

_"Oh right, right, gotta toe the company line. Why're you here, Cas?"_

_"We've been through much together, you and I. And I just wanted...to say, I'm sorry it ended like this."_

Dean stared at the angel. _"Sorry?"_

He punched Castiel in the face, knocking the angel's head to the side. Castiel turned his head back to Dean, completely unaffected by such a hit, while Dean had turned away from the celestial being to nurse his hand, his face tight with pain. Once he pushed the pain down enough, he shifted back around to Castiel.

_"It's Armageddon, Cas, you need a bigger word than 'sorry'!"_

_"Try to understand, this is long foretold. This is your..."_

_"Destiny? Don't gimme that holy crap. Destiny, God's plan, it's all a bunch of lies, you poor stupid sonofabitch! It's just a way for your bosses to keep me and keep you in line! You know what's real? People. Families. That's real. And you're gonna watch 'em all burn?"_

Castiel advanced towards Dean and once he was close, he spoke in an angry tone himself, plus the frustration.

_"What is so worth saving? I see nothing but pain here! I see inside you, I see your guilt, your anger, confusion. In paradise, all is forgiven. You'll be at peace. Even with Sam."_

The angel looked away but Dean leaned slightly, catching his eyes again.

_"You can take your peace, and shove it up your lily-white ass. 'Cause I'll take the pain, and the guilt, I'll even take Sam as is. It's a lot better than bein' some Stepford bitch in paradise! This is simple, Cas!"_

The angel turned fully around, facing away from Dean.

_"No more crap about bein' a good soldier, there is a right and there is a wrong here, and you know it!"_ Dean raised his voice towards the end of his words and then moved to grab Castiel, spinning him back around to face him. _"Look at me! You know it! Now you were gonna help me once, weren't you? You were gonna warn me about all this before they dragged you back to Bible Camp. Help me, now. Please!"_

Castiel seemed to be having some sort of internal struggle, his expression pained. _"What would you have me do?"_

_"Get me to Sam, we can stop this before it's too late!"_

_"I do that, we will all be hunted. We'll all be killed!"_

_"If there is anything worth dyin' for, this is it."_

Castiel paused before slowly shaking his head and looking away again. Dean's expression became angry.

_"You spineless, soulless sonofabitch. What do you care about dyin', you're already dead. We're done."_

_"Dean..."_ Castiel pleaded.

_"We're done!"_ Yelled Dean, turning his back on the angel.

Castiel vanished and when Dean turned back and saw he was gone, he didn't seem surprised. He wandered over to the table and after a bit began eyeing one of the burgers among a huge pile of burgers. Dean picked one up and was about to take a bite when he was suddenly slammed against a wall as Castiel reappeared, placing a hand over his mouth.

The angel pulled a knife out and stared hard at Dean. He nodded slightly and then removed his hand from Dean's mouth as he bared an arm and cut himself. Using the blood, he drew a sigil on the wall. The banishing sigil for angels. The angel Zachariah appeared, the vessel being an older man with graying hair and a suit and tie.

_"Castiel! Would you mind explaining just what the hell you're doing?"_

Zachariah came towards the two of them threateningly and slammed his palm onto the sigil, causing Zachariah to vanish in a flash of light.

_"He won't be gone long. We have to find Sam now."_

_"Where is he?"_

Castiel handed the knife to Dean. _"I don't know, but I know who does. We have to stop him, Dean. From killing Lilith."_

_"But Lilith's gonna break the final seal!"_

_"Lilith is the final seal! She dies, the end begins!"_

The images shifted and changed until the room was a hospital and Castiel stood across from Dean and Sam.

_"__I don't have much time. We need to talk."_

_"Okay,"_ said Dean.

_"Your plan, to kill Lucifer." _

_"Yeah, you wanna help?"_ Dean asked the angel.

_"No. It's foolish. It can't be done."_ Castiel said plainly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_"Oh, well thanks for the support."_ Dean commented.

The vision blurred suddenly and the voices went silent. Mouths were moving but there was no sound. When the sound came back, Dean was talking and he was being sarcastic while serious too.

_"Listen chuckles, even if there is a God, he is either dead, and that's the generous theory..."_

_"He is out there, Dean."_ Castiel declared.

_"...or, he's up and kicking, and doesn't give a rat's ass about any of us. I mean look around you man, the world is in the toilet! We are literally at the End of Days here, and he's off somewhere, drinkin' booze out of a coconut! Alright?"_ Dean said angrily.

_"Enough! This is not a theological issue, it's strategic. With God's help, we can win."_

_"It's a pipe dream, Cas."_

Sam stood by keeping out of it as Castiel grew furious and came up to Dean.

_"I killed two angels this week. Those are my brothers. I'm hunted, I rebelled, and I did it, all of it, for you, and you failed. You and your brother destroyed the world, and I lost everything...for nothing."_

Both Dean and Sam looked very uncomfortable and guilty. Castiel wasn't done yet. He had one last thing to say to the brothers.

_"So keep...your opinions...to yourself."_

The actual Dean and Sam lowered their gazes to the floor when Balthazar started eyeing them from across the room. Their mutual friend had sacrificed everything that he knew, made himself an enemy of Heaven, and the brothers had indeed ended up failing him utterly in the end.


	5. Past

_**Past**_

The apocalypse had begun because Dean hadn't been in time to stop Sam. The guilt was pushed aside in favor of returning their attention back to the visions. Images swirled and morphed until they became one of Castiel and Dean sitting across from one another at a table. Dean was speaking.

_"So, odds are you are a dead man tomorrow."_

_"Yes,"_ said Castiel simply.

_"Wow. Well, last night on Earth. What, uh what are your plans?"_

_"I just thought I'd sit here quietly."_

_"Dude, come on. Anything? Booze? Women?"_

Castiel turned his head away from Dean.

_"You have been with a woman before? Right? Or an angel, at least?"_

The trench-coat wearing angel shifted in his seat, appearing nervous and embarrassed which brought a startled look to Dean's face.

_"You mean to tell me you've never been up there doing a little cloud seating?"_

_"I never had occasion, okay?"_ Castiel defended.

The images faded and when the pictures became clear again, the place where Castiel and Dean were sitting became a booth in a business of some kind. By the number of girls strutting around in very little clothing, the location was identifiable as a brothel. The Dean Winchester in physical form was biting his lower lip, fighting to hide a grin at the most recent images of himself and Castiel that had appeared. Sam elbowed him in the rib to keep him from smiling when their friend Castiel was at the moment, unconscious on the floor as these visions of the past, so to speak, continued to reveal themselves.

The picture of Castiel was one of immense nervousness.

_"Hey, relax."_ Dean ordered.

_"This is a den of iniquity. I should not be here."_

_"Dude, you full-on rebelled against Heaven. Iniquity is one of the perks!"_

One of the young woman made her way over to their table, eyes on Castiel. Dean grinned, looking from the woman to the angel.

_"Showtime."_

_"Hi. What's your name?"_ She asked Castiel.

The celestial being hesitated, appearing even more nervous than before. Dean was more than happy to answer for him.

_"Cas!"_

Castiel jumped in his seat at Dean's sudden enthusiasm. The guy was grinning from ear to ear.

_"His name's Cas. What's your name?"_

_"Chastity."_

_"Chastity. Wow."_ Dean said, continuing to grin at Castiel. _"Is that kismet or what, buddy?"_

Castiel took a long, long, drink of beer from his glass.

_"Well, he likes you and you like him, so..."_

The working woman took Castiel's hand. _"C'mon baby."_

She started to lead Castiel off towards a door but then Dean stood up and grabbed Castiel's elbow.

_"Oh hey, listen,"_ he said as he pulled out a wad of bills. _"Take this. If she asks for a credit card, no. Now just stick to the basics, okay? Do not order off the menu. Go get her, tiger."_

Castiel stared at Dean looking helplessly panicked, his eyes wide.

_"Don't make me push you." _Dean said and Castiel took the money and followed the woman through the door.

The images shifted and grew fainter, then became clear after a scream and shouting could be heard from behind the door Castiel and the female worker had gone. Dean moved through the door, entering into a hall. The pictures shook again, voices becoming impossible to hear again. When the sound next came back, the images too, it showed the woman Castiel had followed with pushing past Dean angrily. Dean watched her go and then turned to Castiel, his clothes ruffled and undone in some places.

_"What the hell did you do?"_ Dean asked him.

The angel stared at Dean. _"I don't know. I just looked at her in the eyes and told her it wasn't her fault that her father Gene ran off. It was because he hated his job at the post office."_

_"Oh no, man."_

_"What?"_

The makings of a smile were beginning to work their way across Dean's face as he looked at Castiel and opened his mouth to explain. But that was all they were able to see as those images vanished and new ones began to form. The location of the newly appearing place was the inside of a dark and bare house. Castiel and Dean entered it, the latter in the lead.

_"Dean, wait."_

The angel stepped in front of Dean as Raphael appeared with wings of lightning, causing the lights to explode. After the wings vanished from sight, the dark skinned vessel that contained the archangel straightened, power positively shining off of his dark figure.

_"Castiel,"_ the archangel said, voice deep and intimidating.

_"Raphael."_

Then Dean decided to pipe up. _"Oh, you know, I thought you were supposed to be impressive. All you do is black out the room?"_

_"And the eastern seaboard,"_ came the reply, and attention was returned to the other angel in the room.

_"It is a testament to my unending mercy that I do not smite you here and now."_

_"Or maybe you're full of crap."_ Dean said, gaining Raphael's attention again. _"Maybe you're afraid that God'll bring Cas back to life again, and smite you, you candy-ass skirt. By the way, hi, I'm Dean."_

_"I know who you are. And now thanks to him, I know where you are."_

_"You won't kill him. You wouldn't dare."_

_"But I will take him to Michael."_

Dean walked over to a cooler in the corner, seemingly out of place in such a old, dusty house and pulled out a beer.

_"Well that sounds terrifying. It does. But, uh, I hate to tell ya, I'm not goin' anywhere with you,"_ the vessel of Michael said to the threatening angel, turning his back to take a sip of his beverage.

_"Surely you remember Zachariah giving you stomach cancer?"_ Raphael questioned.

A slight nervousness passed over Dean's face but when he turned back to face the archangel, he was back to being cocky.

_"Yeah, that was, that was hilarious."_ Dean uttered, refusing to look away from him.

_"Yes, well, he doesn't have anything close to my imagination."_ Raphael informed Dean.

_"Oh yeah?"_

Raphael advanced towards him and Dean glanced at the floor, then at Castiel, who had remained silent for some time now.

_"I'll bet you didn't imagine one thing."_ Dean said to the advancing angel.

He came to a stop and eyed Dean, speaking threateningly. _"What?"_

_"We knew you were coming, you stupid sonofabitch."_ Dean told him and flicked his lighter, dropping it onto the circle of oil Raphael had unknowingly walked into.

Flames sprang up from the oil, forming a circle around the archangel. Raphael was now trapped in holy fire and he glared at Dean upon realizing his circumstances.

_"Don't look at me, it was his idea!"_ Dean pointed out unnecessarily, prompting Castiel to give him a look.

Castiel got right to the point. _"Where is he?"_

_"God."_

Castiel gave an affirmative nod.

_"Didn't you hear? He's dead, Castiel. Dead."_

Dean chuckled to himself at the response.

_"This is funny to you? You're living in a Godless universe!"_ Raphael declared angrily.

_"And? What, you and the other kids just decided to throw an apocalypse while he's gone?"_ Asked Dean.

His angry expression softened to one of weariness. _"We're tired. We just want it to be over. We just want...paradise."_

_"So what, God dies and makes you the boss, and you think you can do whatever you want?"_ Dean demanded.

Raphael's anger returned. _"Yes! And whatever we want, we get!"_

The windows exploded, causing Dean and Castiel to duck to avoid the glass shards spraying everywhere. Outside a storm was raging with thunder and lightning, and pouring rain began to come in through the broken windows.

As Castiel spoke, he had to raise the volume of his voice in order to be heard. _"If God is dead, why have I returned? Who brought me back?"_

_"Did it ever occur to you that maybe, Lucifer raised you?"_

_"No."_

_"Think about it. He needs all the rebellious angels he can find."_

Dean was looking at Castiel.

_"You know it adds up."_ Raphael said.

_"Lets go."_ Castiel said to Dean and turned, beginning to walk away.

_"Castiel!"_ Said the archangel, causing Castiel to look back.

_"I'm warning you. Do not leave me here. I will find you."_

_"Maybe one day. But today you're my little bitch." _

Clearly he'd let Dean's way of speaking influence him just a little in the time spent with the human. The images vanished, replaced with a much brighter environment. Both Dean and Sam were there and they were turning to look in the same direction. In the direction of a door which opened, Castiel coming through it looking a bit beat up. There was a deep cut on his nose and another on the far right of his forehead, near the temple. Both wounds were bleeding slightly. The brothers looked surprised to see him, but relieved too.

_"You okay?"_ Dean asked him.

_"I don't have much time."_ Castiel told them.

_"What happened?"_ Inquired Sam, who wore a look of concern.

_"I got out."_

_"From where?"_ Questioned Dean.

The angel ignored the question. _"Listen to me! Something is not right, this thing is much more powerful than it should be."_

_"What thing, the trickster?"_ The older brother asked.

_"If it is a trickster."_

It was Sam's turn to ask a question. _"What do you mean?"_

Before Castiel could answer he was flung against the wall near the door by an unseen force. The source of the unseen became obvious when the one they all knew now to be the angel Gabriel, came through the same door Castiel had moments earlier. Applause sounded from some out of sight audience as the archangel entered.

_"Hello! Thank you! Thank you! Please, stop."_ Gabriel was saying to the audience they couldn't see.

When Castiel stood up, his mouth was taped shut with duct tape. The angel playing demi-god smiled brightly at the gagged and beaten up Castiel.

_"Hey, Castiel!"_

Castiel's eyes widened upon hearing the trickster say his name but then with a wave of Gabriel's hand, Castiel disappeared.

Sam stared at the spot Castiel had been and then looked at the trickster. _"You know him?"_

_"Where did you just send him?"_ Dean demanded.

_"Relax. He'll live."_ Gabriel told them and then paused before adding, _"Maybe."_

The vision vanished and the next thing they saw when images reappeared, was a circle of flames and someone trapped within them. It was Castiel and he was peering around in puzzlement. After a moment his eyes zeroed in on something and when the image became clearer, they saw the image was actually of someone. Castiel's expression lost the confusion and became serious.

_"Lucifer."_

The Devil pushed off of the wall, eyes watching the captive angel the whole time. _"So I take it you're here with the Winchesters?"_

Castiel had yet to remove his gaze from Satan either, even as he lied. _"I came alone."_

Lucifer cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. _"Loyalty. Hm. Such a nice quality to see in this day and age. Castiel, right?"_

Castiel nodded.

_"Castiel, I'm told you came here in an automobile."_

_"Yes..."_

_"What was that like?"_

_"Um... slow. Confining."_

Lucifer pauses to look more carefully at the other angel. _"What a peculiar thing you are."_

Castiel peered closer at Lucifer, who had come close to the fire surrounding him and the light lit up the other's face better.

_"What's wrong with your vessel?"_

_"Yes, um, Nick is wearing a bit thin, I'm afraid. He can't contain me forever, so..."_

Castiel became angry. _"You..."_

He started forward but remembered the holy fire and stopped just short of it. Lucifer's eyes passed over his entirety, twice.

_"You are not taking Sam Winchester. I won't let you."_

_"Castiel. I don't understand why you're fighting me, of all the angels."_

Lucifer was moving around the circle, hands clasped behind his back, and Castiel followed his movements with his eyes.

_"You really have to ask?"_

_"I rebelled, I was cast out, you rebelled, you were cast out. Almost all of Heaven wants to see me dead and if they succeed guess what? You're their new public enemy number one. We're on the same side, like it or not, so, why not just serve your own best interests which in this case just happen to be mine."_

_"I'll die first."_

Lucifer stared hard at Castiel, a mixture of sadness, disappointment, and also that of understanding passing across his face before he finally replied to Castiel's refusal to join his side.

_"I suppose you will."_

Images shifted and grew unclear. Dean and Sam looked at one another. They had never seen or heard from Castiel what had happened that night when Lucifer had captured him. Now they knew and even though it felt wrong to even think it, both brothers were wondering the same thing judging by the identical stares they were giving one another. Would Castiel ever consider joining Lucifer's side?


	6. Visions

_**Visions**_

Sam and Dean turned their eyes back to the center of the room where Castiel lay, as the images cleared up. Castiel was still standing in the circle of holy fire but Lucifer was gone. There was someone else there, a girl, leaning against one of the pillars supporting the ceiling. Dean, Sam, and Bobby knew the girl was a demon that went by the name of Meg and she was smiling to herself.

_"You seem pleased."_ Castiel observed.

_"We're gonna win! Can you feel it? You cloud-hopping pansies lost the whole damn universe! Lucifer's gonna take over Heaven! We're goin' to Heaven, Clarence!"_ Meg exclaimed happily.

Castiel's eyes were raised toward something on the ceiling. He lowered them to speak to Meg. _"Strange. Because I heard a different theory from a demon named Crowley."_

_"You don't know Crowley,"_ the demon said, but Castiel had her attention.

_"He believes Lucifer is just using demons to achieve an end. And then, once he does, he'll destroy you all."_ Castiel informed her.

His hand was at his side but turning slowly, deliberate so as not to attract Meg's attention.

_"You're wrong. Lucifer is the father of our race. Our creator. Your God might be a dead-beat but mine, mine walks the Earth."_ Meg's voice displayed her feelings of pride and certainty in her statement.

Castiel must have been using his telekinesis to remove bolts from above because all of a sudden, a pipe dropped loose from the ceiling above, knocking Meg into the circle with Castiel. The angel placed his palm on her forehead, the typical motion used to kill a demon, but nothing happened and Meg laughed at his lack of power.

_"You can't gank demons, can you? You're cut off from the home office and you ain't got the juice. So what can you do, you impotent sap?"_ The demon asked, grinning up at him.

Castiel stared down at her. _"I can do this."_

He then proceeded to throw her down onto the fire and used her body as a bridge to cross out of the ring of flames. The angel didn't even spare a glance at the screaming demon he left burning in the holy fire.

Images shifted and morphed into something new. Dean and Sam were standing between two parked cars near a sidewalk. Slumped down low against a car, was Castiel. Blood leaked from his nose and he looked to be in terrible condition. When the two saw him, they hurried over and knelt down by him.

Dean told him to take it easy and asked if he was all right. Castiel looked like the last thing he wanted was for the Winchesters to be in his face as he answered.

"I'm fine. Much better than I expected."

Castiel proceeded to cough, blood spurting from his mouth. He then slumped over, eyes closing. Dean and Sam looked really concerned.

_"Cas!"_ Sam yelled and moved to check if the angel was breathing. _"He's breathing, sorta."_

The pictures became distorted until it was a motel room where Sam was in the process of turning around. Castiel was moving further into the room, head lowered.

_"I got your message."_ Castiel announced. _"It was long your message. I find the sound of your voice grating."_

Sam eyed him. _"What's wrong with you?"_

Castiel wobbled in place, causing Sam to stare in disbelief. _"Are you... drunk?"_

_"No!"_ Castiel insisted loudly. Coming further into the room he staggered and admitted it. _"Yes."_

_"What the hell happened to you?"_ asked Sam.

_"I found a liquor store."_

_"And?"_

_"And I drank it!" _The angel told him as if it should be clear.

The usual swirling of images and then there were more people present, in the same room the actual ones who were watching the vision were in. Bobby Singer's living room. Bobby, Sam, Dean, and a young man they knew to be the Winchester's half-brother Adam, were sitting around. The other present was Castiel but he remained standing in the background of the room as all eyes were on Adam.

_"Well, these...these angels, they popped out of nowhere, and they tell me that I-I'm chosen."_ Adam told them.

_"For what?"_ Sam asked.

_"To save the world."_

_"How you gonna do that?"_ Dean skeptically interrogated.

"Oh, me and some archangel are going to kill the Devil."

_"What archangel?"_ Questioned the oldest brother of the three.

Adam answered him right away. _"I'm his uh, sword or vessel or something, I don't know."_

_"Well, that's insane."_ Dean said, tone insistent.

_"Not necessarily."_

Dean looked over at the speaker of those words, the only nonhuman in the room. _"How do you mean?"_

_"Maybe they're moving on from you, Dean."_

Dean didn't seem to understand the concept much. _"Well that doesn't make sense."_

_"He is John Winchester's bloodline, Sam's brother. It's not perfect, but it's possible." _Castiel explained.

_"Well you gotta be kidding me,"_ commented Dean.

_"Why would they do this?"_ Sam asked.

_"Maybe they're desperate. Maybe they wrongly assumed Dean would be brave enough to withstand them." _Castiel put emphasis on the word "wrongly" as he spoke, earning a disgruntled remark from Dean.

_"Alright, you know what? Blow me, Cas."_

_"Look, no way."_ Sam wasn't buying the idea of the angels wanting Adam to be the new vessel for Michael. _"After everything that's happened? All that crap about destiny? Suddenly the angels have a Plan B? Does that smell right to anybody?"_

The group disappeared and a new image of a staircase came into focus. Castiel was descending the stairs into a basement. The real Bobby, Sam, and Dean knew the basement contained the panic room. The picture of the trench-coat wearing angel turned when there was a sound of glass breaking and walked toward a large metal door. He opened the door and entered the room beyond the heavy door.

_"Dean? Dean?"_

After a moment the angel received a response.

_"Cas."_

Castiel turned to his right to find Dean standing by the wall. As soon as he looked, Dean slammed one of the doors on a cabinet open, revealing an angel banishing sigil drawn on the inside. He pressed his hand to it and Castiel, being an angel, was sent away in a flash of light, screaming as he went. Dean wasted no time in rushing out of the now unlocked room.

Visions became a jumbled mess of nothing in the air of the room and then more revealed themselves. The location, a street. There was a religious man of some kind preaching loudly to anyone within earshot of where he was.

_"The end is nigh! The apocalypse is upon us! The angels talk to me, and they asked me to talk to you! The apocalypse-"_

An image of Dean came into existence and he approached the preacher. _"Hey! I'm __Dean Winchester. Do you know who I am?"_

_"Dear God,"_ the preacher seemed stunned to see him there right in front of him.

_"I'll take that as a yes. Listen, I need you to pray to your angel buddies and let them know that I'm here."_ Dean told him.

The preacher dropped to his knees to pray. _"Our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name-"_

Out of nowhere, Castiel appeared. _"You pray too loud."_

The angel touched the preacher, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious. He then grabbed Dean and shoved him into an alley nearby, beating him up. At one point he threw Dean up against the wall, holding him by his jacket collar.

_"What, are you crazy?" _Dean uttered.

_"I rebelled for this?! So that you could surrender to them?"_

He hit Dean again and again and sent him to the ground, face badly bloodied.

_"Cas! Please!"_

_"I gave everything for you. And this is what you give to me."_ Castiel said, looking down on Dean, fist clenched, prepared to strike again.

_"Do it. Just do it!"_ Cried Dean and stared Castiel in the eyes, practically begging him to just kill him.

After a long moment, Castiel unclenched his fist and leaned down, touching Dean on the shoulder, knocking him out.

The alley vanished and next showed Dean, Sam, and Castiel standing together outside of a building.

_"Whoa, wait. You're gonna take on five angels?"_ Asked Dean, looking startled.

_"Yes."_ Castiel replied.

_"Isn't that suicide?"_ Dean questioned.

_"Maybe it is."_ Castiel answered. _"But then I won't have to watch you fail. I'm sorry, Dean. I don't have the same faith in you that Sam does."_

The images grew shaky and difficult to see. When they next could make out what they were watching, it was of Castiel walking into a large and dark warehouse. The door closed behind him and he moved forward. There was another room ahead and he headed towards it intently. The pictures vanished all together and then reappeared with Castiel moving around the large area of the warehouse, outside of the small room. An angel in a suit attacked him from behind but Castiel seemed ready for the attack and they fought, Castiel emerging the winner.

Holding the blade lowered at his side, he peered around the room as four angels in suits came into sight and began circling around him, angel blades out. It was a fight he couldn't win. He dropped his own weapon, continuing to eye the other angels.

_"What are you waiting for? Come on."_ Castiel taunted.

The four angels closed in on the weaponless Castiel. When they got closer to him, he suddenly ripped open his shit, revealing he had carved an angel banishing sigil into his chest. He pressed his palm onto it, sending all angels, himself included, away in a massive glow of light. In reality, in Bobby Singer's home where the images were playing out to an audience, Balthazar winced at Castiel's move to battle the angels. The angels knew that to be banished by the sigil was a painful process. To carve the sigil into your own chest and use it would be at least twice as bad.

The vision changed into a different room where Dean and Sam were sprawled on the floor looking weak and sick. A man stood near them but his eyes were on the door. Castiel had arrived through the doorway. All of them watching the vision knew who the man was and why Dean and Sam were lying on the floor. It was one of the four horsemen, Pestilence.

_"How'd you get here?"_ Pestilence asked Castiel, sounding surprised.

_"I took a bus. Don't worry, I..."_ Castiel trailed off, keeling over coughing and gagging.

_"Well, look at that."_ Pestilence noted. _"An occupied vessel, but powerless. Oh, that's fascinating. There's not a __speck of an angel in you, is there?"_

Suddenly Castiel moved forward and sliced Pestilence's finger off, snatching the ring that gave the horseman his power.

_"Maybe just a speck."_

The pictures swam and churned into something entirely new causing the actual Dean to look at Gabriel and Lucifer, still in their places where they'd been holding Castiel down, and then he looked at Raphael.

"Are these ever going to stop? He will wake up right?"

"I've never seen anything like this before." Raphael informed him, much to Dean's dismay.

The vision of the past became clear and it was of Castiel sitting in front of a television with Dean and Sam in the background. The brothers appeared to be conferring with one another as the angel stared intently at the screen lighting up his face in the mostly dark room.

_"That's very complex,"_ said Castiel.

_"M-hm."_ Dean replied without really paying attention to what Castiel was referring to.

Castiel frowned. _"If the pizzaman truly loves this babysitter, why does he keep slapping her rear?"_ He paused for a moment and then voiced an idea. _"Perhaps she's done something wrong."_

Dean took a look at the screen for the first time. _"You're watching porn? Why?"_

_"It was there,"_ was the angel's reply.

_"You don't watch porn in a room full of dudes. And...you don't talk about it. Just turn it off."_

It was then Castiel looked between his legs, still totally expressionless.

Dean looked annoyed. _"Oh, now he's got a boner."_

There was someone at the door. Their grandfather, Samuel Campbell, revived from the dead by Crowley at that time. The real Sam and Dean exchanged glances. Samuel Campbell had turned out to be a great big asshole. The image of the grandfather observed what Castiel was watching.

_"Is this what you boys do? Sit around and watch pornos with angels?"_ He asked the brothers.

Completely deadpan, Castiel answered. _"We're not supposed to talk about it."_

Images shifted into a hallway. Meg was standing there.

_"I'll hold off the dogs,"_ she said.

Who she was speaking to came into focus then. Dean, Sam, and Castiel were there.

_"Well, how are you gonna do that exactl-"_

Dean halted his question when Meg pulled Castiel into a kiss, reaching into his trench coat at the same time. The two pulled apart and Castiel spun the demon around, pushed her against the wall, and kissed her again. This kiss was more deep and thorough. After the angel pulled back, Meg stared up at him dreamily.

_"What was that?"_ She asked him.

Castiel looked at Dean and Sam who seemed frozen in astonishment. _"I learned that from the pizza man."_

_"Well, A plus for you. I feel so...clean."_ Meg told the angel.

The pictures transformed into a very familiar place to Raphael, Sam, Dean, Bobby, and Crowley. It was where Raphael had been killed and where Castiel and Crowley had worked together to figure out how to open Purgatory. Crowley was wearing an apron and holding a sharp instrument in one hand. The Mother of All, Eve, was lying on a steel table. At least her corpse was. She was cut open wide and it wasn't a pretty sight. The demon was staring at Castiel in frustration and anger.

_"Don't worry? What, like Lucifer didn't worry? Or Michael? Or Lilith? Or Alastair? Or Azazel didn't worry? Am I the only game piece on the board who doesn't underestimate those nightmares!?"_

In a flash the image was gone, a new one replacing it. Dean and Castiel were standing together in the very room all of them were standing in as they watched the visions flooding out of Castiel's mind.

_"Next to Sam, you and Bobby are the closest things I have to family."_ Dean said to the angel. _"You are like a brother to me. So, if I'm asking you not to do something, you've got to trust me, man."_

The pictures grew fuzzy and became clear to reveal Castiel saving Dean from a demon that had the upper hand against the older Winchester brother. The image fizzled, almost disappearing completely. When it reappeared, Castiel and Dean were staring at one another, the angel talking.

_"I thought you said that we were like family. I believe that too. Shouldn't trust run both ways?"_

_"__Cas, I just can't."_

_"Dean, I do everything that you ask; I always come when you call, and I am your friend, still. Despite your lack of faith in me and now your threats, I just saved you, yet again. Has anyone but your closest kin ever done more for you? All I ask is this one thing."_

_"Trust your plan to pop Purgatory?"_

_"I've earned that, Dean. I came to tell you that I will find Lisa and Ben and I will bring them back. Stand behind me—the one time I ask." _

_"You're asking me to stand down? That's the same damn ransom note that Crowley handed me. You know that, right? Well, no thanks. I'll find them myself. In fact why don't you go back to Crowley and tell him I said that you can both kiss my ass."_

Castiel vanished and then the entire image faded and the new image was of Castiel seated on a bench outside. The place behind him was a beautiful grassy area and blue sky. He was peering upwards and spoke.

_"I'm asking you, Father, one last time. Am I doing the right thing? Am I on the right path? You have to tell me, you have to give me a sign. Give me a sign! Because if you don't I'm going to do whatever I must."_

No response or answer came to Castiel for all his praying. The angel's expression became one of despair and great hopelessness, eyes watering very slightly as he let his head sink into his hands in defeat.

The vision ended and faded as usual but this time, no more visions of past events followed.


	7. Prophecy

_**Prophecy**_

The light of Castiel's grace faded from his eyes until it was only the vessel's soft blue staring unblinkingly up at the ceiling. Lucifer stared down at Castiel from where he sat on the angel, hands and legs holding the body in place. Gabriel released Castiel's head and leaned back, observing his face for signs of recognition or life. There were none.

Lucifer leaned over, moving a hand near the angel's mouth. "He's breathing."

Castiel blinked then. His eyes immediately found Lucifer's, the Devil's face barely inches from his own. He stared for a long moment at the other before finding his voice.

"Why are you on top of me?"

"Would you rather I be under you?" quipped Lucifer with a smirk.

The younger angel was silent, seemingly processing the words and the meaning behind them. "I..uh.."

Dean interrupted. "I think he's saying get off, Lucifer."

Satan glanced at Dean who was quick to avert his eyes from the powerful angelic creature, and then returned his gaze to Castiel, who was looking at him with the same intense look he always held with everyone. He got off of the angel and stood, Balthazar and Suriel standing not far behind him.

"What was that?" Sam asked Castiel as he got up from the floor himself.

Gabriel stood with the younger angel, watching him warily as though he might collapse into seizures again at any moment.

"You saw them too?" Castiel asked Sam, providing a question in turn.

"Yeah. Yeah we did. There were a lot of things that happened in the past that we saw. Any idea why that happened? Why we saw that?"

"E pluribus unu," was Castiel's answer for him.

"And what does that mean, Cas?" questioned Dean.

"E pluribus unu. Out of many, one." Raphael translated, watching Castiel like everyone else in the room.

Castiel nodded. "To get one vision of the future, many of the past were shown first. I don't know why."

"It's just the way it has to be."

The speaker of the words was a young girl and she was sitting in one of Bobby's chairs calmly looking at each of them, one by one. Blonde hair, bright eyes, pale skin, pretty face, and a t-shirt, jacket, and jeans. She couldn't have been older than seventeen or eighteen.

"Who the hell are you?" Dean demanded.

"The way it has to be for the first time anyway," the girl continued as if Dean had never spoken. "Think of it as opening a sort of channel in your head. Temporary, provided to you for the fast approaching end of the world."

The majority were looking at her as though she could be a possible threat, while Castiel moved closer to her and wore an expression of curiosity and interest.

"You..Are you the one who was talking to me..in my head?"

"That's right, Castiel. Now are you ready?"

"I..I don't understand any of this. Why me? How can you even be sure it's me? I'm not marked by the darkness so it can't be me."

"It is you."

"It can't be."

The girl turned her head to the side. "Why not?"

Castiel hesitated, shifting with discomfort. "I'm not strong enough to be some chosen savior."

"We believe it is you and so the power of visions was given to you. So I suppose in a way, you could say we have now firmly made it you that the prophecy spoke about," the girl explained.

"I have tried to do what I thought was the right thing before." Castiel began and looked at Dean. "And I was wrong."

The girl continued to sit, watching Castiel's facial expressions become confused, sad, then blank again. Her fingers danced along the arm of the chair, attracting attention from Raphael at that moment apparently.

"What are you? Do you claim to be a messenger of God?" the archangel interrogated.

It didn't seem like any answer would satisfy him and that was probably why she didn't even bother to spare him a glance. Instead she returned her eyes to the reason she had come.

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

"Wow." Dean stared at the girl. "Thanks. That's extremely helpful. Now Cas knows exactly what to do. You have been so useful."

Her head snapped around impossibly quick, for a human anyways, to look at Dean. And that's all she did. Stare at him with such ferocity that Dean had to turn his eyes away. All pleasantness returned when she looked to Castiel again and she even smiled.

"Are you ready now?"

"For what?" Castiel asked.

"One question, one vision. What will it be?"

The angel stared at her. "A question? Okay. I want to know..what will happen to everything, Heaven, Hell, the Earth, everything. What happens should the darkness prevail?"

The smile on her widened. "Good question."

Images immediately began to appear in the room. Dark images of decrepit buildings alongside broken and torn up ground. The sky was blacker than night and offered no possibility of a sun or moon breaking through. There was a man dressed in black standing in the center of one of the ruined streets. Black boots, black pants, black silk dress shirt, and a black coat that went down to his knees. When his face became visible, it was of a man with eyes that were pale but glowing silver, black pinpoints were the pupils.

The man surveyed the darkness and silence everywhere and then with a wave of his hand, the darkness literally seemed to spread into the very air itself. The buildings disappeared into the dark, the street was consumed by it as well, and then finally, so was the man in the black. The eeriest thing about it was that the man had a smile on his face even when he too was taken by the darkness. Then there was nothing but darkness and nothing more. The vision faded and vanished and the girl climbed to her feet.

"It is what will come to pass if you should fail," she told Castiel. "Remember Castiel, the prophecy is clear. If you do not find a way, no one will."

"What do you want from me?!" Castiel yelled.

The angel rarely let his emotions get the better of him but they were out there now for everyone to witness. He didn't seem to care. The girl's expression softened and she looked sympathetic.

"I know. It's not fair. The pressure always falls on you to save the world. The Winchesters never would have been able to stop the apocalypse without you there to help them. In turn, you never would have become what you are today without her."

Castiel looked shocked. "How do you-"

She shook her head, signaling him to cease his words. "No questions. I am not here to answer your questions. I don't have the power to help you or I would. All I could give is the visions. I hope they help you find what you need."

"There will be more?" asked Gabriel.

"Oh yes."

Castiel didn't look happy. She drummed her fingers along her thigh, contemplating something that escaped them apparently. Finally she turned to Sam and Dean.

"It would be better if the two of you weren't involved in this. It would be better if you stayed home, Sam and Dean Winchester. Of course, this is like telling an ice cube not to melt under the high sun."

Dean made a noise. "Uh, yeah, you're not gonna lay the end of the world on just one angel's shoulders. Cas is our friend and we're gonna do all we can to help him."

Sam nodded his agreement. "Yeah, he's not doing this alone."

"He won't be alone. We've called on one of our greatest warriors to assist him. A white knight."

"The angels will be with him." Raphael declared. "With Heaven on his side he needs nothing else."

"Are you certain? There is little trust between him, you, and the other angels in this room. Heaven is in chaos and the other angels will be of little assistance. And then there is Lucifer."

"What about me?" the Devil questioned.

"The great deceiver. Need I say more?"

The two looked at each other for a time before Lucifer broke the stare to glance at Castiel. "I will find a means to acquire the necessary trust. It shouldn't be necessary however, since I have no desire to see the Earth or Heaven for that matter, swallowed up by darkness. But I will attempt to regardless."

Castiel was looking at him just a tad wide-eyed and when he seemed to notice what he was doing, he lowered his eyes. The girl shrugged and sat back down.

"You each can make your own decisions in this. You can fight or you can choose not to, it is of no consequence. Not for me."

She flickered and they realized she wasn't of the living. Castiel moved over to her.

"Why have you come here if not to tell me how to stop the evil?"

"I wanted to see you. I've been to Purgatory, seen the state it has become under it's new leader and the darkness he brought to the place. It's awful. But she told me about you and so I wanted to meet you."

"Who is this she?" Dean blurted without thinking. "What does she have to do with this?"

The girl ignored him and kept her gaze on the angel who was looking back at her, very interested but uncertain as well.

"Oh..is she..okay?" Castiel asked hesitantly, as if he wasn't even sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Would it make you happy if I told you she was?"

"Not if it would be a lie."

She actually looked sad then. "Goodbye Castiel. I wish you luck."

The girl vanished completely.

"Cas, what was that?" Dean asked.

"I think we should really worry less about who she is and instead worry about what Castiel just showed us." Bobby said. "That future..anything but bright."

"And what exactly are we going to do based off of the information that we've got?" mentioned Gabriel. "We've got no move to make here. Not with what we know right now. She basically arrived in time to have Castiel show us we're all royally screwed."

"I don't understand how this could happen." Raphael looked confused and upset. "I have always been a loyal servant of Heaven but never have I heard of any such darkness that absorbs everything in existence. How do we know what we saw was real?"

"We don't." Crowley said, putting in his two cents. "However, I'm in the business of staying alive and I don't know about you mate, but I'm not taking any chances."

"Uh..guys.." Dean began.

"What?" Raphael sounded annoyed.

"Where's Cas?"

Castiel was nowhere to be seen and what Crowley uttered next summed it up well.

"Well that's just great. That incorporeal girl scared him away."

Lucifer looked around at everyone and then took on a look of thoughtfulness. He disappeared as suddenly as Castiel had and wouldn't be missed for another minute or two.


	8. Deal

_**Deal**_

Lucifer appeared on one of the deserted streets of Carthage. The town was nowhere near ready to recover from the deaths and disappearances of every single citizen in a single night several years earlier. To this day, the authorities were clueless as to what had happened to everyone and it seemed no one was in a hurry to move to a location where all of the residents had vanished into the night. It was a ghost town.

The people living there at the time had been unlucky enough to have one major misfortune befall them. Lucifer. At the moment, he could sense only a single, solitary presence in the entire place. He closed his eyes and reappeared in front of a burnt out shell of a store. There was writing on the front above the door and the front windows, long ago seared off by the heat of flames from an explosion. He knew Castiel was here. It was the place where he and the other angel had first come face to face after being separated for a very long time.

The angel who had been forced to call Hell his home for all that time didn't like to admit anything that could be construed as weakness, but he would admit one thing to himself. He had missed living in the presence of other angels. Lucifer had forgotten how much he'd enjoyed being around the young angels like Castiel. Especially Castiel, the most curious angel God had ever created. Castiel was the angel Michael had been overly protective of, at first putting his foot down and restricting Castiel's training only for the archangels to do.

With some coaxing from Gabriel, who understood the little angel needed to be around the other angels and not only the oldest and most powerful of God's angels, Michael eventually relented when Castiel was older and put him in a garrison under the supervision of Zachariah foremost, and also an angel by the name of Anna. Lucifer wondered if Castiel ever would have rebelled if he hadn't been moved out of direct supervision of the archangels. He liked to think the angel would have. After all, from his birth, Castiel had already been named to be one of the angels to one day be the one to protect and guide the chosen righteous man on Earth.

Whether or not Michael, Raphael, or any of them had realized it, from his creation Castiel had been unique and was already well on his way to following his own path. Lucifer smiled to himself. Perhaps their Father had more of a sense of humor than he imagined. He would have to, wouldn't He? God would have to have some sort of humor in Him to actually create a second angel to rebel like another would before him. Maybe their Father had known Castiel would become a renegade angel but continue to endure in a way most unlike Lucifer. The young angel fought for humanity with everything he had in him while the Devil would like nothing more than to annihilate each and every human.

The smile widened. Yes, their Father was something. Perhaps God had known Castiel was not only the angel the humans needed to protect them, but also the one Lucifer needed as well.

The fallen angel knew Castiel had come here to this ruined store in a less confident and positive mood than Lucifer now felt so he erased the smile from his face and walked into the building through the open area where the door had once been. He found Castiel standing amidst a fallen beam and other charred remains of the place, his back to the Devil. The angel heard Lucifer come in but did not turn.

"How did you find me?"

"I thought of you, and then I thought of the way you were looking at me when I told you that story about when you were a much younger angel than you are now." Lucifer answered honestly. "So then it brought me to think of you thinking of me and I thought about where we first met after I was freed from the cage. I sensed your exact location from there."

"How long?"

"Excuse me?" Satan inquired, arching an eyebrow.

"How long until you bring on the apocalypse again? Until you begin the end of the world?"

In case you haven't noticed, the end of the world is already almost upon us. The end that is coming is one of complete inexistence. An existence without the Earth does not sit well with me. Especially since it will mean the end of me too. So you can trust me, Castiel."

"Trust the Devil? It would be foolish of me."

A low, discontented grumble came from Lucifer. "That facade won't work with me. I am much older than you. I can see when you are hiding your fear. You hide behind the ways of Heaven and God whenever you doubt yourself."

The other angel was quiet, looking at Lucifer but refusing to meet his eyes. The Light Bringer didn't seem to mind. It meant he was listening.

"You don't have to bear this burden alone, Castiel."

Castiel turned around and took a couple of steps through the rubble, rotating his head slowly from left to right. After seemingly taking in every section of the store's interior, his eyes found a part near the back where partial remains of a counter stood.

"This is where they died."

Lucifer followed his line of sight towards the decrepit counter. He felt the other was waiting for him to say something so he did. There was much he knew and there wasn't a whole lot he forgot, so he understood why Castiel had come here to this place. This was where the demon Meg had gotten the Winchester brothers cornered with her hellhounds. This was where they escaped from to make an attempt on Lucifer's life and where two of their friends had been killed. Judging by the look in Castiel's eyes, the mother and daughter who died had meant something to him as well.

"You blame me for their deaths."

"Meg was under your orders," reasoned Castiel, still not willing to look at Lucifer.

"I told her to bring the Winchesters to me, nothing more."

"Your orders, your responsibility for the fallout."

"I suppose that's true."

Castiel did look at him then. "I don't know what they think I can do. I mean, you were able to kill me with a snap of your fingers. At least with you I understood you and why you were doing what you were. It made it easier to stand against you. What chance do I have against something I don't even understand?"

"You understand me?" Lucifer questioned, the hint of a smile showing on his face.

"Uh, er, well, yeah..I do. I think I do."

"Relax, Castiel. You have nothing to fear from me."

"Why should I believe that?"

Lucifer actually appeared a bit hurt and offended. "There is no apocalypse here this time and I have not shown to be a danger to the humans or your precious Winchesters as of yet. I deserve at least some respect from you."

"You deserve nothing."

The Devil's eyes narrowed. "Am I truly the one you are angered with?"

Castiel's expression softened immediately, even going so far as to avert his eyes in a guilty manner. "I didn't mean that. I know you have lost much for your disobedience, as I have. You have lost more than I can imagine I should think."

"Yes, well...you don't need to feel sorry for me. You have enough to concern yourself with. That is why I have come."

"What do you mean?"

"I have something to offer."

Castiel groaned. "Don't bring up a deal again. It won't happen."

"Hear what I have to say, then make your choice."

"Lucifer."

"Castiel," the Morningstar said, copying the young angel's serious tone. "You never had much patience with others."

"There's no time for this," was all Castiel said to that.

"Seems we have plenty of time. No one has the faintest idea how to stop what's coming so we might as well take our time thinking things over until we figure out what to do next."

"There is no we, Lucifer."

Lucifer placed his hands behind his back and closed the short distance between them. He made sure to approach in a manner as non-threatening as he could. Being Satan, he should have realized it was an impossibility. Castiel's stance visibly stiffened, and he stood even more rigidly than was typical for him.

"Listen, young one."

The angel appeared startled by the different title used with him. When he heard Lucifer speak to him like that, it reminded him of the archangels scolding him whenever he'd become inattentive during a lesson. Castiel couldn't understand why his oldest memories of Heaven felt almost lost to him. Every time he tried to remember something from Heaven, it seemed murky and clouded. Was his prolonged time on Earth somehow messing with his memories of his home?

"The deal I have for you. This vessel I wear, Nick, still is not my true vessel and I can feel it already beginning to deteriorate like the last time."

"You will not try and take Sam Winchester." Castiel warned, the volume of his voice rising, as did the amount of hostility.

The Devil held up a hand, rewarded with silence. "I want you to help me complete a ritual which will allow Nick here to become my permanent vessel."

"If it were possible to make the vessel you have now contain you indefinitely, why wouldn't you have done it before, when you were here on Earth during the apocalypse?" Questioned Castiel, genuinely curious.

The suspicion remained though. Lucifer could see it. He could hardly blame the other angel for feeling that way.

"The ritual is rather..unlikely for one such as I."

"What do you mean?"

"It requires the help of another angel."

"What sort of help?"

"Healing grace of an angel, shared blood of a loved one ingested by both, together to bind a permanent host." Lucifer recited for him.

"That would work?"

"You seem surprised," he noted with a hint of amusement creeping into his voice.

Castiel tilted his head away instead of responding. The Devil clasped his hands together in front of himself.

"You help me with this one thing, and in exchange I promise never to bring harm to the Winchesters."

The younger angel swiveled back to Lucifer. "You would swear to never directly, or indirectly, cause harm to Sam and Dean Winchester?"

"Yes. In exchange for the successful completion of the ritual to make this body permanently contain me."

"How could I help you? You need the blood of someone you love..." Castiel allowed his voice to trail off.

Lucifer laughed out loud. "I love all of my brothers, Castiel. I still love God even for what He did to me. Regardless, I don't need any of them because I already have you."

"Me?"

The angel was sounding clueless but the Light Bringer wasn't fooled. "Yes. You."

He lowered his arms from in front of him and waited for an answer. The furrow inbetween Castiel's eyebrows let him know the other angel was at least contemplating the deal. It was enough. Lucifer was certain the answer would be yes. Castiel loved the humans and held deep affection for the two Winchester brothers. If he saw a means to protect them, he would take it.

"No."

Both of Lucifer's eyebrows lifted in surprise as he repeated the unexpected response. "No."

"I need time to consider."

Lucifer recalled well who it was Castiel used to go to the most often up in Heaven when he needed someone to talk to or go to for advice. What surprised him was Castiel's decision to hold to what he'd done in the past.

"You wish to discuss it with Gabriel." Lucifer deduced.

"Uh..yeah. Yeah I do. If he will listen."

The Devil smiled at that. "Of course he will. He may portray himself as a trickster much of the time because of the long period playing the role here on Earth, but he will always be your big brother and he knows when to be serious."

"Stay," ordered Lucifer and then he vanished.

Castiel stared at the spot Lucifer had been in surprise. He stood motionless for several minutes and then turned to the spot where he knew Ellen and Jo had spent their last moments of life. There was no guarantee Satan would return so he decided to forget about Lucifer and focus on the reason he'd come to this place. The two friends of the Winchesters had risked their lives to kill the Devil and stop the apocalypse. The two had lost their lives and the only thing Castiel knew to do for them was to pray for their souls. He knelt down in front of the spot where Ellen and Jo had fallen, placed his hands together, and lowered his head in prayer.

He decided on the apostles' creed and was on his third recital of the prayer when he became aware of no longer being alone. He finished his praying without falter.

"...inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos. Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctum Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem, remissionem peccatorum, carnis resurrectionem, vitam aeternam. Amen."

Castiel reflected in silence for a long moment and then stood, turning to face the new arrivals. Gabriel stood beside Lucifer and it was the most comfortable he'd seen the youngest archangel act around the Devil. The Morningstar was as unreadable as ever while the estranged from Heaven angel seemed a little sad if Castiel wasn't mistaken.

"Gabriel."

"Castiel," he greeted. "Lets take a walk."


	9. Doubt

_**Doubt**_

The Devil remained inside the ruined store while Gabriel and Castiel went outside to talk as they walked down the street. They hadn't gone far when the archangel decided to speak.

"What are you doing?"

"What?" the younger angel asked, sounding clueless.

"What are you doing, Castiel?"

"Did Lucifer tell you?"

"That he's offered you some sort of deal? No. He doesn't have to. He's Lucifer." Gabriel lengthened the name, pronouncing each syllable.

"You think I shouldn't."

"I don't think you should even entertain the idea of a deal."

Castiel said nothing and they continued walking down the street in total silence for at least another block before the quiet was broken.

Gabriel sighed. "You've come a long way since you were a little midget angel."

He tousled the younger angel's hair playfully and then slung an arm around his shoulders.

"I'm surprised you came to me. Lately you've been strictly a solo act."

The trench-coat wearing angel stared miserably at the ground. This made Gabriel laugh.

"I didn't mean any offense. Sheesh, Castiel, learn to lighten up just a tad, would ya?"

"The last big decision I made ended very badly. I killed people. Innocent people."

"You didn't kill anybody. That was the demon. Not you." Gabriel reminded him with a smile.

"It wasn't the demon who stabbed Balthazar in the back."

"Yeah, okay, that was your bad. Mistakes happen," said Gabriel plainly. "Balthazar has been your friend for a long time and you know he forgives you. Now forgive yourself and move on."

"You make it sound so simple," he murmured.

"That's because it is that simple," the archangel replied.

"I'm considering saying yes."

Gabriel stopped in his tracks and lowered his arm, attention entirely on Castiel, no trace of a smile anywhere.

"You mean that," he said knowingly.

"Yes."

The older angel took a deep breath and exhaled audibly. "All right, lets hear it. What exactly does Lucifer want you to agree to?"

"He wants the vessel he has to be made to contain him for good. In return for my help, he will refrain from harming Sam and Dean Winchester."

"For two humans? You're contemplating a deal with Lucifer to protect village idiot number one and two?"

"Gabriel."

The archangel waved a hand in the air, dismissing him from speaking any further. "Yeah, yeah, God placed them under your care and all that. We all know the story."

"Then you understand why this is so important to me."

Gabriel folded his arms across his chest and lifted an arm to drum his fingers against his lips as he apparently thought things through. The tapping ceased abruptly.

"How do you feel about him?"

Castiel looked blatantly caught off guard. "What do you mean how do I feel? He is the Devil. He is manipulative, dangerous, and untrustworthy. That's why I wanted to talk to you."

"Is that all? Be honest," he gave him a look. "I mean it, Castiel."

The two angels stared at one another for a very long moment. Past comfort for either of them most likely but Gabriel didn't let up, waiting for a reply.

"I don't know."

"Come on, you can do better than that."

Castiel wouldn't meet his gaze. Gabriel solved the issue by angling his head until the other angel lifted his eyes to meet his.

"I really don't know. When he is near it just feels..like I am home. I keep my guard up anyway because I remember what he has done in the past. I try to hate him but..."

"Angels weren't made to hate," he informed him. "Angels were made out of love and for love."

"Lucifer hates God." Castiel pointed out.

"No, Lucifer is angry. He doesn't hate God. He loves God even after all this time."

"You aren't angry with him for killing you once?"

Gabriel shifted his weight around as if he were considering the question and then shrugged. "Nah."

"Nah?"

"Yeah. Nah. I put Lucifer in that position. He didn't want to kill me anymore than he wanted to fight Michael."

"Why can I not be as certain as you always are?" asked Castiel.

He chuckled loudly. "I do seem to be that way but it's not true. I'm a pathetic excuse for an archangel. I've spent a large portion of my life running away from my problems. You really are something special, Castiel. I think even Lucifer believes you're the strongest of us all."

"Hardly. You could overpower me in a heartbeat."

"In physical strength and power, sure, there are many stronger than you are. It's your will power that trumps the rest of us every time, and the will is a mighty powerful thing. It's why you're still standing here today."

Castiel said nothing and Gabriel put a hand on his shoulder as a way to provide comfort without using any words. The touch brought back a memory Castiel had thought lost to him.

He was young, barely over three feet tall, and he was seated next to Michael and Raphael. The three angels were in one of Heaven's many gardens. This part was mostly a grassy field but there were several trees scattered about, along with rocks of a variety of sizes. They were perched on one of the more flat rocks that didn't rise too far off the ground.

The two archangels were attempting to teach him about the purpose of angels and his role in everything. Both of them sat on either side of Castiel, heads held high. They were among the only four angels to have seen God and were to represent themselves as the caretakers of all God's angels in a strong, solid manner.

_"Our Father loves the world very much. It is the responsibility of all of us to take care of the Earth. You, Castiel, are what is called a watcher. You are to watch over all manner of creatures living on Earth."_ Michael was saying.

The little angel had recently been taught telekinesis and naturally for such a young being, he found the ability much more fascinating than a lecture from his older brothers. Castiel was amusing himself with his newfound power by lifting his finger slightly so not to attract Michael or Raphael's attention, moving a small tree branch off the ground.

_"But remember, Castiel,"_ Raphael added._ "You watch. You are not to interact with any of the creations, only observe."_

Swiveling his finger in a circular motion, the branch rotated continuously, spinning about.

_"We've talked about this before but lets make sure you were listening,"_ began Michael. _"God made you for a special purpose. You will be like all the other angels in appearance but one day, you will be given a special mission. What is that mission, Castiel?"_

Currently, the piece of wood was moving through the air, shifting like a pen to paper, spelling the tiny angel's name. It was making a swooping motion to make the letter "e" in his name when the branch abruptly burst into flames, instantly incinerated.

_"Castiel! You aren't paying attention!"_ Yelled Raphael.

Michael lowered his fingers from when he'd raised them to snap to conjure the fire and stared down at the child squirming around on the rock. There came laughing and the two archangels looked away from the young angel to find Gabriel leaning against one of the trees in the field, not far from where they sat. Lucifer stood next to the youngest archangel, a nearly identical smirk on his face.

_"You should know by now, he can never listen for longer than four hours at his age." _Lucifer reminded them in all seriousness.

_"He needs to understand his role in Heaven."_ Raphael said firmly.

_"Come on, let the little guy take a break. Then he can give you all the attention you desire later,"_ suggested Gabriel.

Michael peered down at Castiel who had his head hung down low against his chest, feeling self-conscious about the attention he'd thrust upon himself because of his misbehaving. He often found himself in trouble. With a short attention span and an innate habit to question everything, he was scolded quite a bit. It was an angel's duty to obey without question and at the moment, Castiel was the opposite of what made a good angel.

_"Young one."_

The small angel didn't move.

_"Castiel, when someone is speaking to you..."_

He forced his head up to meet Michael's eyes.

_"Good. You will go with Gabriel to learn about the things our Father has made. When you are finished, you will return to listen to Raphael and I. And the next time, you will listen, yes?"_

_"Yes, Michael,"_ he dutifully answered.

Raphael grumbled his disagreement with the plan but did nothing more. Castiel continued to stare wide-eyed at Michael. Realizing he was waiting to be dismissed, Michael waved him away.

_"Go on, Castiel. You're dismissed."_

The little angel wasted no more time and hopped off the rock. His favorite moments were when he was being taught by Gabriel or Lucifer because most of the time they would take him down to Earth to show him the ocean, the forests, all kinds of things. Castiel made it over to the other two archangels and looked up at them both with his big eyes.

_"Can we go to Earth? Can we?"_

Gabriel grinned down at him amusedly and this prompted the young angel to add,_ "Please?"_

_"You got it, kid. Think it's time we check out a tropical rainforest."_

Castiel merely stared up at him as though Gabriel was the most amazing person in the world. Then the wide eyes shifted over to the angel standing next to his new hero.

_"Lucifer? Will you come too?"_

Lucifer placed a hand on top of Castiel's head and smiled down at him. _"Not this time. I have something to discuss with Michael. You go ahead with Gabriel."_

Castiel blinked twice. His eyes finding the street he was standing on in Carthage, Missouri with Gabriel. The memory had seemed so vivid and real.

"Wow. I take it you can't control these visions or whatever, huh?"

The younger angel looked at Gabriel, startled. "Wait? You saw that?"

"Um..that's a big yeah."

"No...No I guess not," admitted Castiel.

Gabriel's fingers were back by his lips, tapping. "This deal. I don't think it's a good idea, Castiel."

There was silence as a response.

"But..it's also not my decision to make."

He caught the other angel's eye. When he was certain Castiel was listening fully, he continued.

"If you want to make a deal with Lucifer, then make it. Only do it if you're getting something more out of it."

"More?"

"Yes." Gabriel told him. "More. I don't think you should deal without more from him."

"I will keep that in mind."

"Good..well that's all I've got for you. Your wise older brother's all out of wisdom for the time being. Well I guess I'm off to contend with the others until you decide to grace them with your presence once again."

"Gabriel. Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah. I hope you know what you're doing."

The archangel teleported away and once he was gone, Castiel murmured four words so softly that he barely heard them himself.

"I hope so too."


	10. Concede

_**Concede**_

When he returned to the store, he found Lucifer patiently waiting for him, meandering around the interior of the room. Neither one of them said anything for a good minute or two. They didn't have to. Both of them seemed to know what the answer was going to be even though Castiel felt like he hadn't quite made up his own mind yet. He didn't know if he would be doing the smart thing, but he knew it appeared to be the right thing. There were no certainties here and the one thing he did know for certain in this situation, the Devil was waiting for him to say the words vocally.

"Okay," he said finally.

Lucifer paused in his pacing and peered at the other angel with a slight tilt of his head. He waited a moment before putting together the tips of the fingers of both hands in front of him at waist level, turning fully to face Castiel.

"Okay what?"

He loosened the tie around his neck further, jaw clenching as he shifted his shoulders. Almost as though the vessel had suddenly become too uncomfortable to be in. Castiel should have been able to understand the human body better. Especially after practically becoming entirely human during the apocalypse from losing the power of Heaven. The inability to keep still was sometimes a display of being nervous for humans. Castiel doing it may have been a sign of how familiar he'd grown in the body of Jimmy Novak. The angel wasn't thinking of any of those things for long. His focus centered on Lucifer who was watching him closely, expecting a response.

"Yes. I will agree to the deal. With one condition or I won't do it."

Lucifer raised one of his eyebrows, interest evident. "Name it."

"I will aid you in making your vessel permanent, if you will swear to never harm or cause harm to come to Dean and Sam Winchester, and, swear to never use the four horsemen to do your bidding again. Then I will agree."

A humorous smile came across the archangel's face. "You think that is a fair deal?"

Castiel's retort came quick. "After everything you did, starting the apocalypse, killing plenty of innocent humans during your fight for domination over humanity when you were freed from the cage, yes, I think it is a fair deal."

"Deal."

"What?" Castiel choked out.

The Morningstar seemed to be positively relishing the surprise on Castiel's face.

"What's the matter, Castiel? You didn't think I would agree?" Lucifer wondered, moving to stand only a foot or so on the other angel's right. "Or maybe, maybe you didn't want me to."

The bewildered angel adjusted his tie a second time. "Of course I wanted you to accept the deal. Much catastrophe can be averted with this deal."

"The horsemen will go on killing even without my guiding hand. You realize this?"

"I know. Alone and without encouragement to do their worst, their damage is contained and remains within the limits of what they were created for. That is how it should be. It is better," discerned Castiel.

Lucifer's expression took on one of someone mildly impressed and accepting. The younger of the two wore a look of concern.

"Do..Do we still have a deal?"

"Yes."

"Good." Castiel said hesitantly.

"I must insist that we make the deal in the demon and human fashion however."

When Castiel only seemed to become further perplexed by the statement, Lucifer added his reasoning behind it.

"I believe you would be true to your word. I prefer to be without doubt though. The last time you made a deal, you reneged on it. To ensure that does not happen again, we do it the demon way, as distasteful as I find them..."

Castiel seemed ashamed at the reminder of his terrible mistake with the souls of purgatory and the demon named Crowley who had talked him into doing it in the first place. He could find nowhere to lay blame on Lucifer for wanting to make sure their deal would stay in place. As he further thought things through, he found the idea more appealing. Done this way, Lucifer too, would never be able to break the deal.

"Um..okay."

"You understand what that means?" Asked the Devil.

"Yes. We must engage in sexual intercourse. It is the only way to create and seal an agreement of this magnitude into our very selves."

Lucifer laughed loudly. "How technical of you."

Satan got very close to Castiel. So close that the younger angel had to crane his neck upward to see Lucifer's face as his vessel Nick, was several inches taller than Jimmy.

"Lucky for you, Castiel, we can kill two birds with one stone."

"Meaning?"

"We can seal the deal and complete the ritual at the same time. The healing grace of an angel, shared blood of a loved one ingested by both, together to bind a permanent host. Grace and blood, both of which you possess. It will work beautifully."

He didn't have time to say anything in reply because Lucifer had erased the final distance between them, lips ghosting over Castiel's own. Any words he might have spoken to the fallen angel were immediately forgotten. Then the Light Bringer was kissing him, deep and sensual. The Devil tasted like ash and dirt, sin and desire. Somehow, he also tasted like flowers and pure air, light and love.

"Do you want to know what you taste like, Castiel?" Lucifer asked, breaking the kiss.

Castiel looked up at him with big eyes and the Devil smiled. "You taste like the morning air, just like your grace."

"Like my grace?" He questioned, honestly confused.

"You don't know? Every grace leaves a trail that can be followed. Archangels can more easily sense it compared to the other angels. Your grace, Castiel, smells like the morning dew."

The blue-eyed angel had never known this about angels. It made a lot of sense considering how well the archangels could find other angels when they really wanted them to be found. Castiel blinked once at Lucifer and the older angel took that as a signal for him to initiate another kiss. This one was harder, both rough and tender at the same time. He found he was rather fond of being kissed by the Devil. Castiel never would have imagined that to be feasible.

Thoughts of reason dissipated from Castiel's mind when Lucifer's tongue delved past his lips, exploring the inside of his mouth. There had been few kisses in Castiel's rather long life, one being with the demon Meg and the other kisses were with _her_. The angel who had taught him how to love another beyond logic. But this wasn't the angel who had abandoned him long ago. It was easy to remember that fact with Lucifer's hands now exploring his body. A snap of Satan's fingers and suddenly they were in a nice bedroom, somewhere Castiel didn't recognize.

Lucifer ended the kiss, pulling Castiel's body flush against his own, resting his forehead on the shorter angel. He seemed to have noted the curiosity in Castiel's eyes for he informed of their current location.

"This was Nick's home. Of course, he has moved on now to Heaven. It's just me in here."

"Jimmy..he is asleep right now."

"Jimmy is the name of your vessel?"

"Yes."

Lucifer didn't say anything else. Another snap of his fingers and their clothing was gone. He was kissed again and Castiel hungrily returned it in an almost desperate fashion. The older angel maneuvered them over to the bed, fondling the other the entire time. Before he knew it, the Devil had him on his back and was on top of him. Castiel stared up at him as Lucifer paused to look into his eyes and a smile grew on his lips.

"You have nothing to fear from me, Castiel."

Castiel bit his bottom lip, uncertain if he wanted to say something. Lucifer's eyes were penetrating. He chose to be truthful and tell him how he felt because the thing about being around the Morningstar, it felt like Heaven. Being with Lucifer felt like home.

"It's not you."

The angel's eyes went lower. The Devil's eyes followed and a grin broke out across his face.

"You're a virgin."

"Will it hurt?"

Castiel was avoiding meeting the archangel's gaze. Lucifer took the younger angel's face gently in his hands and tilted it to look straight at him.

"At first, a little. Then it's better, pleasurable."

Lucifer placed the fingers of one hand into his mouth and wetted them thoroughly. "I'll talk you through it, okay? We'll go slow. One finger to begin."

The younger angel's response was to continue to stare up at him. He watched as Lucifer removed his hand from Castiel's face and used it to part his legs, slipping the hand with the wet finger between them. Fingers prodded at his entrance and then a finger slipped inside smoothly. The feel of the foreign object inside of him was startling and Castiel squirmed.

He steadied the angel's legs and Castiel found it wasn't so bad when staying relatively still. The Devil waited until very blue eyes found his paler ones before adding a second finger. To Castiel, the touch felt strange but not bad. Not bad at all. Wrapping his arms around Lucifer's neck, he pulled the Devil against him, eliciting a kiss.

"More," he murmured against the archangel's lips.

"Happy to oblige."

A third finger found its way inside of him and pushed in deeper than before. There was definitely pain but as Lucifer pushed further, he hit something that felt rather gratifying to Castiel. A noise escaped the younger angel which he didn't even realize until Lucifer commented about it.

"That's what I like to hear."

Lucifer started planting kisses and gentle bites along his neck and across his chest and shoulders. He laid back and let him for a time, then Satan lifted his head to eye Castiel.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, yes, do it. I want to feel you inside me," insisted Castiel.

The fingers were removed and then Lucifer was lining his member up against the entrance. Castiel spread his legs apart to allow Lucifer better access and slid his arms down the smooth skin of the archangel's back, finding purchase with his rear end. The fallen angel seemed to like that and leaned down to plant a kiss on his lips. He raised his head back up and gave a slight nod, proceeding to enter Castiel with his member. Lucifer went slow, giving plenty of time for Castiel to adjust to his size. When he was all the way inside, he looked at the angel beneath him directly in the eyes. The Devil pulled his member out except for the head and then pushed in all the way.

The angel's mouth parted and he gasped. Breathing heavily, his cheeks flushed with color and Lucifer couldn't help but put his lips to Castiel's own. One of Lucifer's hands took Castiel's member and wrapped around it, pumping in rhythm with his own thrusts into the young angel. He pressed himself down against the angel as skin slapped against skin and the kissing grew heavier, stifling the majority of the moans escaping continuously from Castiel.

Spurred on by the ecstasy filled sounds Castiel was making as the minutes went by, his pace quickened.

"Lu-"

Castiel couldn't even get the other man's name out as a particularly hard thrust from Lucifer stole his breath away. The smaller angel felt waves of heat and pleasure radiate from his groin area as a white substance ejected from his own member and onto his chest. A few more thrusts and Lucifer's climax followed soon after. Semen filled the inside of Castiel's hole and his back arched as a multitude of feelings flooded through him from the raw, instinctual act completed.

Though he could feel Lucifer's member had gone soft inside him, the Devil remained there and initiated an open mouthed kiss. Castiel returned it enthusiastically and Lucifer smiled into the other's mouth. The angel peered up at him after noticing the smile and actually managed to very slightly tilt his head in his typically puzzled manner as he lay there on his back.

"I'm going to draw blood," warned Lucifer.

Castiel stared blankly as the Devil pressed his lips against the flesh of his shoulder and then bit down. The bite was deep and the blue-eyed angel failed to stop the wince passing across his face from the sudden action. When Lucifer lifted his head from the shoulder, Castiel saw blood dripping from his lips. _His _blood. And then his lips were back on the younger angel, kissing him, and he was tasting his own blood. Satan's kiss was rough and thorough and he didn't let up until all of the blood had been transferred into Castiel's mouth.

"Swallow it all," the Morningstar told him and began murmuring a chant in Enochian that was totally foreign to the younger of the two.

He did as he was told, even going so far as to lick his lips which brought a grin to Lucifer's face as he finished the chant. No sooner had Castiel ingested the blood when pure white light of Lucifer's grace radiated from the human vessel, filling the entire room. Castiel felt the human eyes of his own vessel roll back, mouth gaping, and the light of his own grace began to glow from his eyes and mouth. That was when the Devil leaned over him and captured his mouth with his own one last time.

As the kiss began, the graces seemed to wrap around each other, and then they vanished back into the vessels as quickly as they'd emerged. Castiel slowly closed his mouth and blinked once. His senses came back to him as Lucifer extracted himself from him and he laid back on the bed next to Castiel. During the intercourse he'd been lost to rational thought. Now that it was over, he remembered the deal and the ritual.

"Your vessel?"

"Nick's body is now my true vessel."

Castiel wasn't understanding everything but as his thoughts moved rapidly in his mind, he seemed to be assessing the situation and coming to a conclusion.

"Grace can be intertwined between two angels during intercourse and blood shared at the same time, so long as the right words are spoken in Enochian. That is what needed to be done?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Questioned Lucifer.

"It's done."

Castiel sat up and with a single thought, his clothing was back on. "I...I have to go somewhere."

"Go. I will await your return here. Where might you be going? Dare I ask?"

"I need to pray."

He didn't say anything more before he was gone with only the sound of his wings fluttering as he vanished.


	11. Absence

_**Absence**_

The following morning came and went, with no sign of Castiel or Lucifer. The angels had remained there all that time sitting mostly in total silence while Crowley had left shortly after Castiel and Lucifer went missing. They had no need of sleep and so they hadn't. The three humans in the room on the other hand...Bobby had gone to bed early, feeling awkward having so many angels camping out in his house. Sam had gone downstairs to sleep in the panic room. He still had nightmares from his time in the cage with Lucifer and Michael in Hell and didn't like others, even his brother, to witness him waking up screaming or in tears. Dean being Dean, had opted to crash on the cot in the same room as the angels were in. While he was asleep, he was practically dead to the world.

Around noon, Dean was awakened by Bobby. "You usually don't sleep more than four hours on a typical night. Now when you're in the same room as four angels, you sleep like a baby?"

Dean sat up groggily, rubbing at his eyes. "Wha-?"

Bobby peered over his shoulder at someone Dean couldn't see from where he was propped up on his elbows on the bed.

"Aw, isn't he just precious?"

A laugh followed Bobby's comment. Sam's laugh. Dean swung his body around, planting his feet on the floor. Sam and Bobby were both watching him with smiles on their faces. He was happy to see them smiling but it didn't escape his notice that there were shadows under Sam's eyes. His younger brother still wasn't sleeping much at night. It had been months since the wall had broken in Sam's mind and he had yet to show any meaningful recovery from the event.

Dean made himself smile back at them and then lifted his eyes in the direction of the gathered angels. Raphael was standing stiffly, Suriel standing obediently beside him, while Balthazar was leaning against a desk. Gabriel was reclined in a chair but as Dean's eyes roved over the lot of celestial beings, the archangel sat up straight, looking at Raphael. Apparently the angels had been in the middle of some sort of discussion about Castiel.

"Are you really that surprised he ran off? You put the whole weight of the universe on his shoulders in his current state and expect him to what? Flourish?"

"I've had enough of your humor, Gabriel." Raphael glared at the younger archangel.

"Where did you go before?" Sam questioned. "You know where he is, don't you!"

Gabriel gave him a look. "Maybe, maybe not."

Raphael's eyes bore into his younger brother. "I've had enough of this. We need to know more. If this is originating in Purgatory, we should go there. Deal with the problem from the source. We don't need a misguided angel like Castiel."

"Go out too far on a limb and you might fall off," a voice said in a singsongy way.

The young female apparition, looking as solid as she did before, had returned. She was standing directly behind Dean and when she spoke he practically jumped out of his skin.

"Jeez! Who are you trying to be? Evelyn Draper?!"

"Hm..an old film. With Clint Eastwood right? Nice reference."

Dean seemed to settle down a bit. "You know good movies. Okay, two points for you."

The girl's head lowered slightly and a smirk grew on her face. When she raised her head again, her eyes tilted sideways and up towards Sam. For the first time they really noticed how short the girl was. An inch or two over five feet at the most.

"Are you all right, Sam?"

Sam seemed startled to be addressed by her and cleared his throat, glancing about the room before answering.

"Uh, yeah. I'm good."

She stared at him a moment longer, looking like she would like to say something. Instead she pressed her lips together and regarded the gathered angels.

"Your self-righteousness will get you and anyone who follows you killed, Raphael."

Raphael stared at her, power positively oozing out of his vessel's eyes alone. "What gives you the authority to speak to me at all? You are not even of the living. Your word is worth nothing."

"You will remember my words in the end," was her simple reply.

"What are you inferring?" Suriel demanded defensively. "Are you threatening an archangel?"

"Merely stating the inevitability of his demise, should he decide to continue on his current course of action."

"Current course of action? And that would be?" Bobby asked.

"His choice to ignore the greatest weapon you have against the growing darkness," the girl explained. "Castiel's visions can show you the way. They _will _show the way. The visions have the capability of showing all. The only downside is that they are random, unpredictable."

The bright eyed girl was searching the room. "Where is he?"

Silence was her answer. It was Sam who looked away and then back at her. "We don't know."

"You don't know?" She sounded incredulous. "You've gotta be kidding me. The darkness is already spreading from Purgatory to Earth. It can only be held back for so long. If the darkness is here, you can guarantee he's sent some of them here too."

"Okay, hold up. Who is he? And who is them? Explain before you piss me off." Dean snarled, already sounding fed up with everything.

"Them. The dark ones, born from the darkness. They are humans or other creatures in Purgatory who chose to turn away from the light forever. You become a dark one when you accept sins as your religion, pledging to this takes away your right to ever be forgiven. He..he is their leader and creator. The one who brought this darkness upon Purgatory. His name is Sammael. That is what they call him."

"Sammael? And what, this guy just woke up one day and decided he wanted to completely obliterate everything?" Sam theorized skeptically.

"It would certainly seem that way," the girl replied coldly. "I don't presume to know the motives of a creature as consumed by evil as he."

"Right," was all Sam said. He didn't seem convinced.

Dean glanced at his brother, then the girl. "Yeah, okay, whatever. So how do we kill the guy?"

"Dean."

"What Sam? It's simple. There's some big bad who thinks he can go around and do whatever he wants and it's our job to go out and gank the sonnuvabitch. Like always. It's no different from any other time."

Sam laughed. "Oh right, same like how you said Lucifer was like any other monster, just bigger? I remember how well that mission turned out."

The two brothers apparently had forgotten they had an audience of four angels, one spirit, and of course Bobby.

"Are you seriously throwing that in my face, Sammy? It was _you _who decided to take the suicidal plunge and say yes to the Devil!"

"And it was the only way and you know that Dean! And it worked so just drop it."

"Whatever," muttered the older Winchester as he rolled his eyes.

"Can we get back to what matters please." Her tone was insistent.

Dean and Sam turned away from one another to look at her in an almost identical fashion. "What?"

The word had come out of both of their mouths simultaneously causing Balthazar to scoff and Gabriel to chuckle to himself. Sometimes they were so much like brothers it could be downright obnoxious to the celestials.

"Cas-ti-el. You have an idea where he is at least?"

"Uh..not exactly." Balthazar told her.

"And by that you mean...?"

"No idea, sweetheart, sorry."

"Sweetheart?" She said questioningly.

She closed her eyes and her head jerked to the side sharply, glancing towards the doorway. In that brief moment when her head was turned partially away from them, they could see what she most probably looked like in death. The side of her face towards them was smashed in, bloody and bruised horrifically. Her jaw was slanted wrongly off to the side, indicative of a broken jaw, and her cheek was torn up, more blood and muscle tissue rather than the smooth skin that was supposed to make up one's face.

The girl's face returned to it's normal pretty appearance and she smiled humorlessly at the accented angel. "Hardly."

Her foot tapped twice impatiently before she stilled herself. "So you're telling me, that you don't know where he is and won't be able to find him?"

"No, not easily anyway." Suriel volunteered.

Raphael gave him a look and he shut his mouth up, looking ashamed for speaking without permission, even though needing permission was simply a ridiculous concept. Thus was the way of obedient angels it seemed.

"Don't you get it?" She asked, staring at them each in turn with disbelief. "Castiel has the visions necessary to stop this world ending shit storm that's coming. And with the darkness beginning to leak onto Earth, the dark ones are bound to be walking the Earth with it."

"Okay. And?" Dean growled. Clearly he wanted her to get to the point.

"And if we're looking for Castiel because of his visions, you can bet they'll be looking for him too."

Comprehension dawned on each of their faces. Meanwhile, the girl walked over to one of the chairs in the room and sat down. Her mind appeared to be elsewhere.

"Cold, dead eyes, stealing life away."

"Come again?" Dean questioned.

"Don't turn your back..."

Dean was the apparent spokesperson. "Uh..okay. Who we talking 'bout exactly?"

"I can see right through the empty lies."

He looked at his younger brother who shrugged. It was settled. Neither of them knew what the girl was talking about. She observed the silent communication between them and responded to their confusion with one word. A name.

"Sammael," she said it as if verbally speaking the name would tell them what they were confounded about.

"You've met this..Sammael?"

"You could say that."

"Right," said Dean, sounding irritated.

"When Castiel showed us the future to come, could you feel it? I wonder..." the girl pondered.

"Could we feel everything that would be felt by all should the darkness become our existence? Yes." Raphael told her.

Sam swallowed hard. "Oh, that. Yeah, felt that. It wasn't a good feeling."

"When love is lost. The light vanishes too," began the lively spirit. "Stars can die. Darkness will fall in paradise. With the darkness, pain is everything, until there is nothing. And then nothing is all that you will know. Nothing but the dark."

"Umm.." Gabriel started but let the noise trail off to show how lost he was with the conversation.

The girl sighed to herself and then apologized to them. "Sorry about all that. Sometimes I find it hard to..stay constant."

She flickered almost completely out of existence for a moment before returning to her not quite solid form. The girl stood up from the chair.

"Find Castiel."

"You could help you know!" Dean shouted after her.

The words went unheard by the girl. She was already gone.


	12. Adrift

_**Adrift**_

Dean paced the room, glowering at his brother every time the guy looked like he was going to say something.

"Find him. Wow, that girl is just full of wisdom. With guidance like that, we're gonna find Cas and save the planet in no time," snarled Dean.

Sam's mouth opened but a sharp glance from Dean shut him up again. The older Winchester swung around and fixed his bitter stare onto the angels in the room.

"Well? Any ideas from the winged peanut gallery?"

None of the higher beings bothered to provide a response. Not one of them was in the mood to humor the sarcastic human pacing the room nonstop. Instead Raphael put his back to Dean and ordered Suriel to return to Heaven to await further instructions. The archangel didn't attempt to give orders to Gabriel or Balthazar. Raphael didn't technically have the authority to command another archangel and as for Balthazar, the lower ranking angel had had a taste of free will and loved it. The angel wouldn't be giving that up anytime soon and no matter how much he disliked it, Raphael knew it to be truth.

When Suriel left, Bobby came into the room with a book in his hand. The tension coming from Dean and his surly demeanor went unnoticed by Bobby. He flicked through a couple of the pages wearing a frown of concentration.

"I found out some information about who this warrior might be that girl mentioned."

Dean ceased walking back and forth. "Warrior? Oh, you mean the white knight or whatever she called him."

"I never heard of God having any knights. I thought the angels were his soldiers." Sam queried.

"He's got more than angels apparently." Bobby told him and then looked down to take information from the book. "According to this, on Earth God placed three holy swords. The swords were given names. Amoracchius, Fidelacchius, and Esperacchius, representing love, faith, and hope. Each of the blades are rumored to bear a nail from Jesus's crucifixion in its hilt and the purpose of these weapons are to protect humanity."

Bobby turned the page and ran his finger down the written words. "It says the weapons can't be touched by any unclean beings but the protection can be disabled if the wielder of the sword uses it in a dishonorable or evil way. And the only known method to completely destroy one of these swords is to use it to kill an innocent or used in an act that goes against its nature, whether it's the sword of love, faith, or hope." He squinted at the writing for a moment and then added, "The wielder of any one of these blades has to be deemed worthy by God and can be given only by an archangel, one named keeper of a sword, or God himself. Wielders of the swords are called Knights of the Cross."

"So you're saying you think the warrior the girl mentioned could be a knight of the cross?" Sam wondered.

"Sounds like a strong possibility," replied Bobby.

Dean looked at Raphael and then Gabriel. "You know about this stuff right? You're archangels so you should know where the swords are. So? Where are they? Who has them?"

Gabriel was a messenger of Heaven before leaving to live on Earth, often guiding souls personally to the afterlife if they were considered kings of men. Not literal kings, but rather, humans who were considered especially worthy of Heaven because of their acts during their time on Earth. He would know better than any of the angels, the details of the holy swords and their bearers, even considering the long absence from his home.

After giving Raphael a sideways look that none of them could decode, he looked at Dean to give him his answer.

"Fidelacchius, the blade of faith, is being used by a man from Japan in Europe at the moment. Esperacchius, sword of hope, is currently inactive, in America actually, kept safe by a man God trusts but who doesn't wish to take on the heavy duty of bearing a holy sword. Amoracchius, blade of love, was given to a man in America a few years ago and he has been using it ever since."

"So basically, these people who take up a holy sword, are saddled with the responsibility of fighting evil the rest of their lives?" Dean sounded bitter about the concept.

Raphael beat a hesitant Gabriel to the punch. "They hold the responsibility so long as they hold the sword. They are free to give up possession at any time. We ask only that they leave it in a safe place."

"Typical of the angels to pass off their job to some poor sap on Earth."

"We watch over these sword possessors when we can." Raphael declared with ferocity.

"Yeah sure, when it benefits you."

Dean seemed not to care any one of the angels, especially Raphael, could easily wipe him off the face of the earth with a mere thought. The hunter was beyond listening to what the angels had to say. He was past listening to even Bobby now. Everyone knew why too. He was upset because Castiel had disappeared on them. With Lucifer pulling a vanishing act also, it was becoming increasingly probable as time passed, that the two were together somewhere. They didn't know where and they didn't know what the two of them were doing, but no matter what was going on, Dean didn't like it.

"Dean, come on, don't you think you're being just a little unfair?"

"Don't you say that to me. The angels have been a bigger pain in our asses than most demons or monsters. The stuff they pulled, Sam. They orchestrated the apocalypse for gods sake. How can you defend them?!"

"I'm not defending them," protested Sam. "I'm trying to work with them because at the moment we don't have a whole lot of options. We've got no idea what we're fighting. No idea what this latest evil even looks like. Even you've gotta admit that the angels at least have power on their side. We need all the help we can get."

The older of the two grunted in a grudging sign of acceptance of what his brother was saying to him.

"Look, Dean, I know you're worried about Cas. I sure as hell don't trust Lucifer either but even if Castiel is actually with him, I'm sure he's okay."

"Why? Because Cas has faired so well against him in the past. Lets see..captured the first time, killed the second."

"It's different now."

"Yeah? How? Show me how." Dean stubbornly demanded.

Sam's mouth opened as though he was about to argue. Then his eyes flitted back and forth a couple times before zeroing in on Dean, lips pressing together. A deep sigh passed from his lips and he gave his brother his sad, concerned face.

"Dean, you okay?"

"Of course I am. Don't be stupid."

"It's okay to be worried about Cas. He's our friend. He's important to us. I'm telling you though, he's going to be all right. He'll come back soon, I'm sure of it. So you sure you're okay?"

"Stop asking if I'm okay, Sammy."

"Okay. I'm your brother. I'm here for you. Try to remember that." Sam said, putting a sense of finality on the conversation into his reminder.

Dean was silent for a moment and then without fully looking in his brother's direction, he regarded the man.

"Hey, no chick flick moments, okay?"

"Dean, will you just hear what I'm saying?"

He shook his head and fixed his eyes on some space over Sam's shoulder. "Nope."

Sam scoffed. "Jerk."

Dean smiled and looked at him. "Bitch."

The younger Winchester gave him a smile in return, knowing it was all good between them. His smile widened even further at his brother's next words.

"All right, so lets get proactive. Apparently Castiel having visions make him the go-to guy for the next armageddon. Ideas on how to find Cas anyone?"

There came no response and Raphael was frowning as though concerned by the thought that he couldn't find an angel when he wanted to.

"No? No? Okay then. How about this idea. We find the last person that we know crossed paths with Castiel."

Blank stares all around.

"The last permission to fight with him..." said Dean, attempting to lead them to what he was thinking.

"The demon?" Sam questioned. "How would that son of a bitch be able to help us find Castiel?"

"When something touches the grace of an angel, it's permanent." Raphael informed them. "There will always be a link, a connection, between them."

The archangel's eyes closed briefly and when they opened, he seemed full of knowledge by the gleam to his eyes.

"The demon is on Earth."

Dean, Sam, and Bobby didn't ask how he knew that because the other two angels in the room appeared to know how. Balthazar ceased the relaxed look he'd taken on for most of the time he'd been at Bobby's and narrowed his eyes.

"I will be more than happy to smite the black bastard myself."

Dean held up a hand. "We'll see what happens, big guy. For now, we talk to the guy. Talk."

"The demon's in Michigan," said Raphael.

"Shall we?" Gabriel asked with a smile and a snap of his fingers.

Three humans and three angels appeared outside a large hospital building. There were a lot of people on the street and yet no one seemed to notice the six new arrivals. Probably the doing of the angels. Sam and Dean exchanged glances before Sam glanced in the direction of the angels.

"No offense, but you guys attract too much attention," he pointed out to the angels. "So we'll take it from here. You guys can make yourselves known when we've got the demon."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at Sam. "You're gonna go get this rather ancient, meaning extra powerful, demon all by your lonesome?"

Dean stared hard at the archangel. "Think we can't do it?"

"Oh no, by all means, go for it."

Sam put on a tight smile. "Good. Bobby, go up to the third floor and find a vacant room. You know what you need to do."

"Right.." Bobby eyed him carefully. "And what are you two going to be doing in the meantime?"

Sam looked at Dean and they both began to smile.

"Oh, you know, be ourselves," the older of the two said.

Both of Bobby's eyebrows went up.

Five minutes later, Sam had managed to commandeer the intercom at the main desk on the third floor.

"Hello residents of this very fine establishment."

He grinned at the horrified looking receptionist standing behind the desk. She seemed unsure of what to do with the situation she was facing and so she just stood by.

"Listen up! This is a page for Avram. Let me repeat that. Avram. Come on now, is there a demon in the house? Avram, step right up."

A nurse came through the door behind Sam and stared at him for a moment before responding. "Hey! Hey! You shouldn't be using that! Sara, call security."

The receptionist, apparently named Sara, broke out of her frozen state and lifted the phone from the desk. Then Dean was there, putting his hand over hers. He gave her his best smile.

"Don't bother. That's my brother. He's insane. I'll take him back to the psych ward now."

Sara said nothing but did set the phone down. The nurse continued to glare at Dean as he walked away down the hall with Sam. They made it around the corner and then Dean started laughing.

"That was awesome man."

Sam allowed himself a smile. "Yeah."

"You two are idiots."

The brothers turned as one to find a man about 30 or so, dressed in blue scrubs. As they stared at him, his eyes changed to black with red irises. It was indeed Avram. He stared at them and began moving closer.

"Coming here alone? Completely moronic."

Sam started backing up and Dean copied him.

"Uh, you're right. It was stupid. Bad idea. Bye now." Dean said.

Avram continued the advance. Sam and Dean ducked into a room on their left quickly. The old demon followed them into the room with the beginnings of a smile marking his face. The brothers were over by the window and the demon sneered at them.

"Dead end. Time for me to rip out your hearts from your throats. Who wants to go first?"

"As fun as that sounds, I think I'd rather have a chat." Dean told him.

The demon's eyes scanned the room and spotted the painted devil's trap on the floor, almost hidden by the dark. "Nice try."

"Hey! Yeah you, ya ugly black eyed hellion!" Avram turned to look over his shoulder at the name caller, Bobby, who was standing by the light switch.

"What?" The demon asked with much amusement in his voice.

"You ain't touchin' those boys until you get through me."

"Fine."

Avram moved towards Bobby, who backed out into the hallway and made it a couple feet down the hall before the demon entered the corridor. He saw Balthazar appear out of nowhere, several yards behind Bobby. The demon snarled and headed straight for him and Bobby, apparently feeling more than strong enough to take an angel and a human head on.

Sam and Dean exited the room they'd been in just as the two archangels appeared next to Balthazar. The demon stopped and Dean let out a sound.

"Hah!"

Avram glanced behind him at the two brothers, who were coming over and then walking right around him, keeping distance but unafraid. They went to stand by Bobby as the three angels came nearer too. The six then turned to look at the demon who was still staring at Dean. His head tilted to the side, examining the human. When his head straightened again, his eyes stared at nothing for a moment and then lifted up slowly to look at the ceiling. A devil's trap had been drawn on the ceiling right where he was standing under it. He was trapped.

His eyes lowered and glanced to the left at nothing in particular as he murmured, "Damn."

"All right, now that everybody's present, we've got some questions for you," announced Dean with a smile.

Avram's eyes passed over the archangels and Balthazar, paying Dean no attention though he did respond to him.

"Ask."

Dean opened his mouth but Sam asked a question before his brother could. "How did you get out of Hell?"

The demon's eyes were taking in the devil's trap, searching for any conceivable flaws perhaps. The search was pointless. There would be none.

"Oh you know, when the darkness began leaking onto Earth from Purgatory, a few glitches occurred. Namely, a brief opening of a gate to Hell right near where I was. Lucky me, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't know. Do you _feel_ lucky?" Dean asked, scowling at the creature.

Avram stared at him for one very long moment and in a deadly serious voice, asked in return, "Do you?"

Dean looked cheekily back at him. "Why yes, at the moment. I kinda do. Your ass is trapped. We got you right where we want you."

"And your angel friend. Is he right where you want him?"

The green-eyed brother got serious. "What are you talking about?"

"Hm..by the way, you should probably be aware of a demon named Cassius. He has his eye on your angel."

"We'll do the talking and we'll ask the questions here." Bobby stated, pushing Dean back a little from the spot Avram was stuck in.

The demon barely spared him a glance before he was regarding each of the brothers in turn.

"Sam and Dean Winchester. Don't you ever tire of being the last to know everything?"

"Wow. You're just full of questions, ain't ya? Well we're not all here to listen to you ask stuff so you better listen to us instead," said Dean, sounding annoyed.

"Don't you wonder why some dead girl has such a sudden interest in you? Why she seems to know so much?"

"What did I just say. I ask the questions."

Avram sighed an exaggerated sigh. "You want to know where your friend is. Castiel."

"Yes." Sam said. "Where is he?"

"Busy."

"What?" Asked Dean, leaning forward as though he might have misheard the answer.

Avram leaned toward the other a bit in a mocking way. "Busy. He doesn't rely on you like the two of you rely on him. It was quite amusing to a lot of us demons the way you turned your backs on him when you two uncovered his plan with the souls of Purgatory."

"Shut up." Sam didn't find the demon's words amusing. He always had been one to feel guilty about everything.

"You got your answer," the demon said bluntly. "Anything else?..."

"That's not an answer. We still don't know where he is." Bobby pointed out.

The red and black eyed demon shifted his gaze to the close friend of the Winchesters. "He doesn't want to be found."

"I don't care what he wants." Raphael said, speaking to the creature for the first time. "What you should be concerned with, is what I want. Because if I want something I had better get it. You won't like what happens otherwise."

"I'd listen to him. My bro can have quite the temper," piped up Gabriel.

Avram stared at the archangels, expressionless. "I tire of this conversation."

He raised an arm and twisted the wrist partway. When he did, the ceiling cracked, making a line through the devil's trap. The demon stepped out of it with ease, right up to Dean. He took great pleasure in the older brother's shock at his sudden self-release from the trap.

"Let me answer what you really want to know, Dean."

Dean stared at the powerful demon's face, mere inches from his own, saying nothing. The demon didn't seem to need him to say anything. He was more than happy to continue without a prompt of some kind.

"In the time that he has been gone from you, he was with Lucifer, just as you suspected."

Some kind of emotion flickered briefly across his face before he made it reveal nothing once again.

"We were already aware this might be the case. What of it?" Raphael questioned.

The demon clarified what he was telling them. "He was _with _Lucifer."

"With?" Sam pondered on the emphasis used. "You mean..with with?"

Dean swallowed hard. "What like some kind of deal? Or..?"

"A deal was made and sealed between them. But to one of you, this is old news."

Balthazar's eyes immediately moved to Gabriel. Everyone noticed.

"You knew about this?!" Shouted Dean.

"Well..yeah."

Balthazar looked kind of hurt by this news while Raphael seemed disturbed.

"He came to you for advice, like he used to do when he was young." Raphael concluded. "You told him to accept a deal with Lucifer."

Gabriel held up his hands as though surrendering to someone. "Not exactly."

The older archangel turned fully around to face him. "What then?"

"He's a big boy. He makes his own choices. You know that better than most."

"One more thing and then you must let me leave here freely." Avram told them.

He was looking at Raphael when he said it. The archangel nodded his assent.

"Three dark ones, Sammael's first and most favorite, are closing in on Castiel's location. Get there quick or they will get him first."

"Where is Cas? What has he been doing all this time?" Asked Dean almost sounding desperate now. "It's been nearly two days."

"Mostly, he's been praying."

"Where?" Sam asked.

"The place where it all began for him. Where the source of his doubt and the cause of his shaken faith originated," the demon was watching Dean as he said this, who didn't seem to be getting it. "Pontiac, Illinois, ring any bells for you, Dean Winchester?"

Dean stared at Avram and then said quietly. "I was buried there."


	13. Run

_**Run**_

Time was lost to him. He hadn't the faintest idea how long he had been kneeling on the ground in front of the square hole of dirt before him. The place the righteous man, Dean Winchester, had been put to rest after hellhounds had torn his body to shreds and dragged his soul down to the pit. All of it courtesy of Lilith, who had personally held Dean's contract with a crossroad's demon and ensured he went to Hell in exchange for Sam's resurrection as the older Winchester had agreed. Castiel hardly noticed the visions playing out around him. He was too busy praying out loud in Latin, concentrating on finding what he was supposed to do.

The first vision that appeared beside him that he didn't even spare a single look to, was of the hospital where Dean Winchester was dying in one of their many beds.

Three actual angels and three actual humans teleported into the grassy field behind where Castiel knelt, his back to them. There were images hovering above the area on the angel's right but he paid no attention whatsoever to them. The six did pay them attention however, especially the brothers who were being featured prominently in them at the moment.

Dean was lying unconscious, hooked up to all sorts of machines and tubes in a hospital bed. His brother sat by his bedside looking appropriately upset and worried. Then the picture was replaced by another. A man was in a rather dark area, John Winchester, and he was face to face with a man with yellow eyes. The yellow-eyed demon, Azazel, was moving close to John Winchester. Most unnerving of all, was the smile on his face that could be described as nothing but wicked.

The image morphed into one of Dean suddenly waking, choking on the breathing tube in his mouth. That image was almost immediately replaced by Sam walking down a hospital corridor with a cup of coffee in his hand. He stopped short, peering into a room on his right, and the coffee fell from his hand, spilling all over the floor, as he ran into the room. Into the room where his father was lying sprawled on the floor, one arm still in a sling from a previous incident.

That image faded fast and a new one, one where it was night and there was a gravel road, took its place. Sam was there. He was walking towards Dean and Bobby, looking tired but otherwise in good health. That was when a tall man with dark skin wearing army fatigues came up behind Sam and stabbed him, Dean's shouted warning coming too late. He stabbed deep and twisted, demeanor cold and detached. It was as though it were only business to the young man. After yanking the knife back out, he took off in the opposite direction at a dead run. Bobby gave chase, wielding a shotgun, while Dean went straight to his brother.

Sam was dropping to his knees and Dean caught him before he could fall all the way down. Resting on his knees, he fell against his older brother. As he grabbed hold of Sam, he drew back a hand when it felt wet. Sam's blood coated his hand and he stared at it with dismay. His brother made a noise and he focused his attention back on Sam's face. Blood was filling his mouth and Sam was having trouble focusing his eyes. The eyes only stared blankly straight ahead, still in shock over the blitz attack and the pain in his back.

Dean was continuing to try to get Sam's attention, provide some sort of comfort as he fought to deny what he already knew to be true. His little brother was dying.

_"Hey, look. Look at me. It's not even that bad. It's not even that bad, alright? Sammy?"_

His brother wasn't responding, barely hanging in there as it was.

_"Sam! Hey, listen to me. We're gonna patch you up, okay? You'll be good as new. Huh? I'm gonna take care of you. I'll take care of you. I got you. That's my job, right? Watch out for my pain-in-the-ass little brother."_

He noticed Sam's eyes were now closed.

_" Sam? Sam. Sam! Sammy!" _Realization that his brother was dead dawned on him. _"No. No, no, no, no, no. Oh, God." _Dean pulled his brother against him, holding him tight. _"Oh, God."_

Staring straight ahead at nothing, eyes grieving and looking completely lost, he cried out; _"Sam!"_

Now the vision morphed into a graveyard. Dean was there looking straight at a Hell's gate. He turned around to find Azazel, the yellow-eyed demon, standing not far from him. Dean was flown clear above several headstones and his head slammed into one of them on the way down. Momentarily dazed, the powerful demon had ample time to approach him with the well-known colt pistol in his hand. He was talking to Dean but the words couldn't be heard. No sound reached the six observers ears for reason unknown. It didn't matter, the message was clear enough as Azazel raised the pistol and pointed it at the older Winchester brother.

The yellow-eyed demon had no chance to pull the trigger as a spirit manifested nearby and grabbed hold of the human the demon was inhabiting. The demon was yanked from the human and the spirit wrestled with the black smoky form of the creature before it finally knocked the spirit back. Once again freed, it returned to the human's body and took control once more. Standing up, he was in time to find that Dean had acquired the colt during the time he'd been out of his vessel and had it aimed at the yellow-eyed demon.

Dean stared at him with cold eyes of determination and resolve. He pulled the trigger and struck the demon. He appeared startled by his own end at the hands of Dean Winchester and then he was dead, human vessel dropping lifelessly to the ground. Once the demon was gone, his eyes sought out the spirit, his father. John Winchester smiled comfortingly at Dean, coming over and placing a hand on his oldest child's shoulder.

Sam came over to them and looked at his dad with such joy and astonishment at seeing him. The only thing he could manage was to smile and John regarded him with the same smile he'd given Dean. One that said they had done what they'd long ago sought out to do, kill the demon who killed their mother, his wife, and now everything was going to be okay. Then he was backing up as he lowered his arm back to his side. Still smiling, he flickered and then vanished.

Images changed into something else. A room in a house. Sam and a blonde haired girl who they recognized as the demon Ruby were there, holding a set of double doors closed. In the meantime, Dean was spreading some sort of dust in front of each of the exits.

_"Give me the knife. Maybe I can fight it off." _Ruby was saying.

Sam tilted his head as he looked at her with a frown. _"What?"_

_"Come on! That dust won't last forever." _

Sam was about to hand her the knife when Dean intervened. _"Wait."_

_"You want to die?"_ The demon asked him.

_"Sam, it's now in Ruby. It's not Ruby."_

Suddenly Sam was slammed against the wall by the demon's power of telekinesis while Dean was thrown onto a table across from the door.

_"How long have you been in her?"_

Who they thought had been the demon Ruby, smiled. _"Not long...but I like it. It's all grown up and pretty."_

Her eyes became white, revealing her true identity as the much more deadly demon by the name of Lilith.

_"And where's Ruby?"_ Sam asked her.

Her eyes returned to the vessel's color. _"She was a very bad girl so I sent her far, far away."_

_"You know, I should have seen it before but you all look alike to me."_ Dean said, glaring at her and pretending to be tough.

Her eyes were on Sam instead though and she moved right up to him. _"Hello, Sam. I've wanted to meet you for a very long time."_

Lilith kissed him and Sam looked visibly disgusted by the action as he tried to turn his head away. _"Your lips are soft."_

_"Right. So you have me. Let my brother go." _Sam practically growled the words at the demon.

_"Silly goose! You want to bargain, you have to have something that I want. You don't."_

Dean was talking again with his attitude and pretense of fearlessness that his brother knew he had to maintain or else risk losing it completely. _"So, is this your big plan, huh? Drag me to Hell, kill Sam, and then what? Become queen bitch?"_

_"I don't have to answer to puppy chow." _Lilith informed him, strolling over to the doors. _"Sic him, boy," _she said and then opened the doors, smirking at Dean the whole time.

A growl could be heard and something blew past Lilith. Dean was yanked off the table and the demon began laughing as the hellhound tore apart one of his legs. Claw marks began to appear all across Dean's body and blood spurted everywhere.

_"No! Stop! Stop it! No. No. Stop it. Stop it. No!" _Sam screamed in horror.

He watched as his older brother was torn to shreds right before his eyes and he was powerless to stop it. Dean wasn't even able to let out much of a scream, let alone a fight, as he was slaughtered on the floor. When he did scream, it was in agony as claws raked across his flesh. Lilith was clearly enjoying Sam's screaming for it to stop as she turned to look at him as he yelled out another 'no!'

_"Yes!"_

Lilith raised an open palmed hand at him and light shot from it at him as her eyes glowed white, radiating power and energy. After a long moment, her hand lowered and her eyes returned to normal. She looked confused as she saw Sam was still there on the floor, shielding himself with his arms and completely untouched by her attack.

Sam stood up and stared at her with anger. She looked frightened now. _"Back. I said back."_

He didn't listen. Instead he came even closer and picked up the knife that was capable of killing demons.

_"I don't think so."_ Sam said to her and was about to strike her dead with the knife.

Before he could, she vacated the vessel with a screech, in a huge cloud of black smoke and was gone, escaping through a vent in the ceiling. The anger left him as suddenly as the demon had and Sam was left with nothing but deep sorrow and pain. Looking upon his brother's hellhound ravaged body, he began to weep. He fell to his knees and cradled his brother partially in his arms, Dean's lifeless gaze staring up at the ceiling.

_"No..Dean..."_

The vision dissipated into another. Dean was there standing beside Bobby.

_"You sure you did the ritual right?"_ Asked Dean, looking impatient.

Words were exchanged between the two men and then the metal sheets of the roof were flapping as the wind picked up. The light bulbs began bursting one by one, sparks shooting out from them. The double doors blew open and a man walked into the barn. The man was Castiel decked out in his suit and tie, and of course, his trenchcoat. He walked towards them and the two hunters began shooting. The angel kept coming, showing absolutely no notice in the bullets slamming into his body.

Dean grabbed the magic knife, capable of killing even demons, and asked, _"Who are you?"_

Castiel had reached them now and his eyes stayed on Dean. _"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition."_

Dean stared very warily at him, grasping the knife tight._ "Yeah. Thanks for that."_

The angel gave him a slight nod in acknowledgement of his thanks and then Dean proceeded to stab Castiel with the knife, straight through the heart. He left the Winchester brother gaping in surprise when he calmly yanked the knife out of his chest, staring at Dean. Bobby and Dean exchanged looks of shock. The older man chose that moment to attack Castiel from behind with a tire iron. Without having to look, the angel caught the metal instrument as it came at his head. Keeping a hand on it, he turned toward Bobby and placed two fingers against the human's forehead. Bobby subsequently fell unconscious and slid to the floor.

Castiel watched Bobby fall to the floor and then his eyes returned to Dean. This time his gaze was one of a more pressing manner.

_"Dean, we need to talk."_

The pictures vanished all together and then there was only the real Castiel, knelt in front of the square hole Dean was once buried in. He was in the midst of a prayer.

"..qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine, passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus, descendit ad infernos, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ascendit ad caerlos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis, inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos."

His head turned, apparently aware of their presence for the first time. He turned back around to face the grave and stood, making the sign of the cross as he said, "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen."

Castiel turned around fully. As he did, Lucifer came around the side of a tree. Perhaps he had been lurking there the entire time the angel was praying. He came over to stand beside Castiel and spoke to him but so that everyone could hear as well.

"They are here."

Three men were approaching from the tree-line farther back from their group, making their way gradually across the field of grass. One was tall and broad-shouldered with light brown hair, wearing a black leather jacket and jeans. Another wore all black clothing and had close cropped hair. The third man, walking slightly ahead of the others, had dark hair. The hair could be described as sort of shaggy, falling partially over his eyes and down his neck. This man was wearing a deep red suit and and tie with a black shirt. As the three drew nearer, their eyes could be better seen. The eyes were pale, practically glowing silver with black pinpoints as their pupils and irises.

They had seen those eyes once before. The man they called Sammael had had those eyes in the vision of the future they had seen. These three must then be the ones from Purgatory known as dark ones. The one in the dark red suit smiled at Castiel as they came close to where he and Lucifer stood by the grave. They had eyes for the angel with the visions and no one else.

"Finally, we meet," the smiling dark one said. "I have to admit, I imagined you to be something more. Now that I see you, I can see that you really are just an angel, like they say. Only an angel. Oh right, by the way, my name is Darius," he gestured towards the tall one. "This is Lazriel, and the other is Molenn."

The one named Molenn, clothed entirely in black, was meandering his way to get behind Castiel. He was looking the angel up and down, running his tongue along his bottom lip. Dean being Dean, he was the first to comprehend the kind of stare the creature was giving Castiel.

"Are you-are you checking Cas out? Like, actually checking him out?"

The creature stopped licking and spoke to the angel his attention was fixed upon. "I thought you'd be...taller."

Castiel didn't seem to like how Molenn was staring at him either and could feel the threat with ease.

"Watch it tough guy. I will always be taller than you when you're lying on the floor unconscious."

The dark one seemed to like that. "Touche."

Raphael stumbled. _Actually_ stumbled. Darius turned his smile to the archangel who barely managed to catch himself after stumbling backwards. Raphael must have tried to attack somehow.

"You'll find that your powers won't work so well around something like us. It's the darkness, it extinguishes light. Angels are created from light so the dark simply devours your abilities. Or at the very least, manages to muck it all up so to speak."

"I'd like to devour you, angel," the dark one known as Lazriel had spoken the words and he was positively leering at him.

This dark one had circled around behind Castiel and Lucifer and was very close to them. "Lucky for me, you have quite the pretty vessel. Wonder how it'd feel to be inside you."

Lucifer fixed such a threatening gaze on Lazriel that all of them could feel the power coming off of him. The dark one did seem mildly deterred from further action and he settled with giving Castiel one last leer. Then he moved back over to Darius and Molenn.

"You have a choice, Castiel. There's always a choice." Darius was telling him. "You can come with us now, willing. Save yourself some trouble."

"All my surrender would accomplish is to allow the darkness to finish off everything that exists more quickly than it is already. I won't let that happen. I'm going to stop you. I'm going to kill your master."

Darius scoffed. "You are not worthy to even be in his presence. No one is. If he wishes to see you, then he will come to you."

Dean frowned. "Is that your dressed up way to say you've never met the guy?"

He didn't answer. In a way, that was answer enough.

"Castiel, come," the dark one held out his hand as though wanting the angel to take hold of it and go with him.

The young angel didn't budge from his spot. "I will never give in and help you. You're wasting your time."

Molenn was all business now. "I don't think we are. I think our time spent on Earth will be well spent. We will get hold of you sooner or later."

"You're wrong." Sam told the dark one.

"It's only a matter of time," said Molenn, expression solemn.

Castiel didn't seem to believe them. "You have no way of knowing that."

"That may be true." Lazriel admitted.

He wandering closer to the angels and humans standing across from Lucifer and Castiel, then spun on his heel to face the angel with a knowing look. "But you might."

The angel continued to appear mystified, causing the dark one to relax. "Maybe not. You might find out though. That's why we need you. If we have you on our side, we can see what's going to happen. We can crush the opposition against our master so simply that our victory shall be obtained soon."

"You will lose. I won't let Sammael destroy everything."

"You won't..let him...?" Darius growled in a low voice.

At his obviously angered tone, Lazriel and Molenn began to hang back, towards the trees where they came from. Darius stared for a very long moment at Castiel.

"Don't make me come find you. You won't like what happens."

Castiel only stared right back. Darius shrugged his shoulders. "Well..okay then. You've made your choice. Now you'll have to live with the consequences."

"Like we haven't heard that before," said Dean. "I think it's time you scram."

"A parting gift," the tall one, Lazriel, offered. "Maybe you should ask the spirit who keeps visiting you, what she did when she was living. See, she was a hunter. Whatever did she hunt I wonder..."

"I have a gift for you as well." Molenn said.

That was when he pulled out a gun and shot Sam.


	14. Love

_**Love**_

No one noticed the three dark ones slip away. When Sam was shot, the bullet piercing his chest, he crumpled to the ground quickly. Dean dropped to his knees beside him almost as fast as his brother fell.

"Sam!" He cried out, immediately searching out the wound.

His hands discovered the area of his shirt where blood was already seeping through and he put his hands over it, applying pressure to the wound. The younger Winchester was releasing gasps of pain, hands fisting into the grass as though searching for something to latch onto in order to relieve the pain piercing through his body. Dean's head shot up and his eyes sought out Castiel.

"Cas! Help him. Heal him."

The one angel friend of his came over to them, face tilted sadly, concern written all over it. He leaned over and placed two fingers to Sam's forehead. When Castiel frowned, Dean began shouting, anger covering up the fear he was feeling in massive strokes at the moment.

"What are you doing?! Heal him! Can't you see he's in pain? Come on, Cas!"

"I..can't. I can't heal him, Dean. I'm sorry."

Dean stared incredulously at me. "What do you mean you can't?!"

"My healing power seems to be gone. I can't do it. I don't understand..."

Gabriel tried to heal Sam by mimicking Castiel's earlier action as the younger angel took a step back. He hardly noticed Lucifer was now standing right beside him. When the archangel removed his hand, straightening back up, Sam continued to lay there bleeding badly. Blood gurgled in his mouth and he started choking on it. Dean grabbed his brother up by the shoulders, cradling his upper body and head in his arms to help him breathe better. As blood dripped from Sam's mouth, Dean moved to put a hand back over the hole in the chest.

"Hang in there, Sam. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be fine. Okay, Sammy?"

The shorter brother stared at the gathered angels. "What's going on? What's wrong with your mojo? Huh? Help Sam!"

It was Balthazar who stated what they all knew but didn't want to believe. "Our powers are in the crapper. I've been feeling it come and go, be completely there or only partially. This..bloody darkness is mucking everything up. I don't like it one bit."

"What are you telling me?" Dean asked, his voice becoming quiet.

"We cannot heal your brother. We have been cut off from Heaven completely and as for our powers, they fluctuate continuously. It must be stopped. I am an archangel. I cannot be powerless." said Raphael emotionlessly except for when he spoke of his power.

The older Winchester looked at Raphael, Balthazar, Gabriel, Castiel, and Lucifer individually. Five angels and they couldn't do a damn thing to save his brother who was dying in his arms right in front of them.

Sam's eyes sought out Dean's own and locked on. "Dean. Dean."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here."

"It hurts. It hurts a lot. Help me. Help." Sam managed to get out before a particularly loud gurgle filled the silent air around them.

More blood ran down his chin and a hand reached up, grasping Dean's jacket collar. His eyes were wide, scared, and it was destroying Dean to helplessly watch this happening.

"Dean. I don't want to die. I don't want to die, Dean."

His eyes began to water but he fought back the tears, trying to be strong for his little brother. "I know, Sammy. I don't know what to do."

He raised his eyes to Castiel and repeated what he'd said to his brother. "I don't know what to do."

Castiel only looked at him with those sorrowful eyes of his. Dean lowered his gaze back to Sam when he began to take deep, rasping breaths. The bullet must have pierced a lung and deflated it. He couldn't breathe. His green eyes stared into Sam's darker ones.

"It's okay, Sam. I'm gonna take care of you, like always. I promised dad I'd watch out for you and that's what I'm going to do. So you're fine, Sam, you're fine."

Sam's eyes were looking at him, signifying that he was listening, chest heaving up and down as he fought desperately to get air. He breathed in an especially deep breath and this time he didn't breathe out. His eyes glazed over, staring at nothing now.

"Sam? Sam?...Sam!"

He buried his head into Sam's chest, holding him more tightly than before. Tears trailed down his face and he quietly continued to repeat two words.

"It's okay. It's okay."

After awhile, the angels weren't sure who Dean was talking to. His deceased sibling, or himself.

Suddenly there was a black cloaked figure pushing through the group of angels. "Move."

The cloak covered his entire body and a hood hid his face. When he moved, the lower portion of his face could be seen but that gave no identity away. The man moved over to stand in front of Dean, who was holding the lifeless corpse of his brother.

"Here."

He held out a gloved hand that had a small corked glass bottle filled with clear fluid. Dean stared at the cloaked figure, taking awhile to process what was being offered to him. Finally he got himself together enough for the tears to stop and he cleared his throat.

"What is that?"

"Water."

Dean stared blankly at him.

"Blessed water. The kind with this magnitude of healing power, extremely rare. This is the only bottle I have. Pour it over the wound."

When Dean did nothing but continue to stare, the man took it upon himself to get down on one knee beside him. He opened Sam's shirt gently, taking care not to tear any of the buttons, and found the wound. He uncorked the bottle with his teeth and emptied all of the water onto it. Before their eyes, the bullet came through the flesh and fell to the ground. The hole closed up and the blood vanished, leaving his skin smooth and unscathed.

The glazed look left Sam's eyes and he sucked in a lungful of air, looking shocked as he became conscious of things. His eyes found his brother, who was still holding him.

"Dean?"

Tears of joy replaced the ones of grief and Dean hugged his brother tight. "Sam!"

"Whoa there, Dean, it's all right. I'm all right..somehow."

Dean lifted his head to look at the cloaked man who had given him the special water that had saved Sam's life but he didn't see him anywhere. He looked at the angels.

"Where is he? Where'd he go?"

Lucifer's gaze went to the tree-line about where the dark ones had disappeared through. "He went off that way without another word."

"And you didn't stop him?" Dean questioned, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"It didn't seem necessary," was Raphael's answer.

The concealed man was gone but Sam was okay. That would have to be enough Dean supposed. Something was bothering him though. It felt like the hooded man's voice was someone he knew. Like he should know who it was and yet he couldn't quite get a grasp on placing a name to the man. Sam was trying to get out of his hold so he could stand. He let him go and they both stood up together.

Sam fixed his shirt after taking a long lingering look at the unmarred flesh where there'd once been a gaping bullet wound. He looked at his brother.

"What just happened?"

"I don't know," came Dean's honest reply.

Castiel nodded to the resurrected Winchester. "I'm glad you are okay, Sam."

He looked at the angel. "Yeah, right, but how am I okay? I was dead. I know that. So how am I standing here talking?"

The angels didn't feel like talking apparently. Gabriel only said one thing in response to his questioning.

"Just be glad you're alive, Sam."

Sam exchanged glances with his brother and then Castiel was speaking to Lucifer.

"You followed me here. Why?"

"You shouldn't be alone." Lucifer replied. "Those creatures are after you and they _will _try again."

"Aww, it almost sounds like you care," commented Dean snarkily.

"I do care." Lucifer said to Dean, keeping his gaze on the angel. "Even if he does not want to believe that I do."

Castiel looked away for a moment and when he returned his gaze to the Devil, it was intense.

"We need to talk."

Satan raised his eyebrows and pointed at himself, mouthing, "With me?"

Castiel continued to stare at Lucifer in a most profound way. The Morningstar smiled, looking almost smug, and moved even closer to the other angel, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll meet you back at the Winchester's friend's home. Lets talk, Castiel."

And then they were gone, leaving the angels to look at one another in unidentifiable ways to the three humans present. At the same time, Sam and Bobby exchanged looks, while Dean's eyes were narrowed at the spot Lucifer and Castiel had been standing in.

"Damn it!" He yelled at the empty spot. "Why do I never know what's going on?!"

"Why do I never know what's going on?"

Lucifer smiled at Castiel, who was looking frustrated and confused as he removed the Devil's hand from his shoulder and turned around to face him. The two were back in the Devil's vessel Nick's home. More specifically, his bedroom.

"I don't understand what you do to me, Lucifer."

Castiel's eyes were looking him over as though it would allow access to see the angel inside the vessel. To somehow let him understand what made the archangel tick.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lucifer began. "Lust. These meatsuits feel it constantly."

"No, that's not it. It's more than the physical, it's..emotional..I think. Something that cuts through this vessel, to my grace," he tried to explain while not even fully understanding it himself.

"Emotional?" tTe Light Bringer queried and his smile became more gentle. "Do you mean love, Castiel?"

Castiel lowered his gaze to the floor as Lucifer attempted to meet his eyes.

"Are you saying you love me?"

The younger one remained silent.

"I like that a lot," revealed Lucifer, still smiling softly.

"I shouldn't feel this."

The words made the Morningstar laugh out loud. When Castiel dared a glance upward at him, he caught a look of self-loathing and shame. He realized the angel felt as though he was doing something wrong which Lucifer himself could see. Castiel thought Lucifer was laughing at him for what he felt for the Devil. Ceasing the laughing, he grew serious.

"May I kiss you, Castiel?"

The angel's head shot up, forehead creasing in a frown of confusion. Suspicion sprouted in his eyes as he met Lucifer's, searching for answers within the other.

"There's no deal to be made here, Lucifer. Nothing for you to gain from such an act."

Lucifer closed the small distance between them and caressed the right side of his face. He pressed his forehead to Castiel's and rested it there for a moment.

"I know," he murmured, surprisingly cool air passing between his lips.

Satan lowered his lips to hover, ghosting over Castiel's own. It was Castiel who closed the final distance between them, kissing the archangel with a kind of desperation. Love, need, desire all factored into the passion he put into the hard and deep kiss. Lucifer returned the caress of lips with equal fervor.

Castiel felt Lucifer's icy breath from his grace slipping into his mouth, mingling and wrapping around his own warm grace. The sensation was indescribable. The only thing he could think when he felt it touch his grace, was comfort and security. Home.

Lucifer wrapped his arms around Castiel, a snap of his fingers and both of their clothing disappeared. He pulled the younger angel against him and pressed Castiel down onto the bed beside them. His kisses moved from the angel's lips, to his chin, neck, and then shoulders and chest. Castiel made a noise and Lucifer's mouth found Castiel's again. The young angel melted into the kiss as though it were as sweet as a warm summer's day and bathed in the pure light of Lucifer's grace melding into his own.

The raw heat of Castiel's grace meshed with the ice of Lucifer's. After all, in reality, the Devil burned cold.


	15. Knowing

_**Knowing**_

When Castiel and Lucifer appeared in Bobby Singer's kitchen, Sam was so startled, he nearly choked on the sandwich he was taking a bite out of. He straightened from where he'd been leaning on the counter in the room and dropped the sandwich onto the countertop.

"Dean."

The older Winchester popped his head into the room after hearing his brother say his name and instantly spotted the two newly arrived angels. He eyed Lucifer warily and when the archangel tired of the fear positively reeking off of the human watching him like a hawk, he left Castiel's side to enter the other room where the other angels and Bobby were waiting.

With Satan out of the room, the fear lessened in Dean, seen by the slightly less tense posture of his shoulders. His jaw loosened also and then his eyes narrowed as they looked Castiel over. The angel's tie was looser than usual, hair ruffled a bit, and there was a pink tinge to his cheeks. It was the flushed look that informed Dean of what he'd been worried about.

"You..you did it again didn't you?!"

"W-what?" Castiel uttered, perplexed by Dean's anger.

"Cas, he's the Devil! Think about what you're doing!"

Castiel gave him nothing but silence. Sam was looking from the angel to his brother and back again. He was being wise and not getting involved. He knew with Dean things could get ugly fast. He was also aware that the ones in the other room could probably hear everything being said.

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but damn it Cas, when I told you you should get laid before you die, I didn't mean Satan!"

"I know what I am doing, Dean."

"Oh you do, do you?" Dean asked, giving him a disbelieving look. "Because it doesn't seem that way. He's playing you! He's got some trick up his sleeve and you're playing right into his hands."

"And you know this how?"

Dean scoffed. "Because he's Lucifer! He's the freakin' king of Hell and you're letting him fuck you!"

Castiel adjusted his tie and solidified his stance. "You understand nothing of our relationship. Do not presume to know."

"Fine! Maybe you're right. But I do know what that monster has done. What he did to a lot of innocent people here on Earth when he escaped the cage. He brought on the friggin' apocalypse! Or how about what he did to Sam? Surely you haven't forgotten about that!"

"I forget nothing." Castiel told him quietly.

"Glad to hear you haven't forgotten!" Yelled Dean. "But what the hell does that mean about what you're doing then, huh? Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

The angel vanished and reappeared directly in front of him, cutting off his air supply with a clenched hand around Dean's throat. His normally gentle blue eyes burned with fury.

"Cas!" Sam shouted.

"What gives you the right to judge my actions? What gives you the right to decide what is right and what is wrong? All I have ever been to you is someone to show up when you call to fix your problems. Even knowing this, I came, because God placed you in my charge and I believed you to be a good man, doing his best to make it in a world so wrong."

Dean couldn't breathe, let alone say anything in response. He futilely struggled to loosen the angel's grip around his windpipe but was having no success. Sam was staring at this wide-eyed, determining if he would need to step in and stop it or not.

"Cas, you're killing him!"

"I put my faith in Heaven and the other angels and they failed me. They lied and manipulated me in order to accomplish their own ends. I put my faith in you to stop your brother and the impending apocalypse, giving up my home for you, and you failed. I put my faith in God, and he abandoned me. I am not so foolish as to put total faith into anyone anymore. Do you understand? Now I am always careful. Now I'm always suspicious of everything and everyone. I am like you, Dean, and for that I feel concern. Because all your suspicion has ever gotten you is more heartache and pain."

"Castiel."

It was Lucifer who said Castiel's name, speaking calm but firm. Gabriel, Raphael, Balthazar, and Bobby were standing in various places behind him. The angel released his hold on Dean's neck and stepped back, leaving Dean room to hunch over as he coughed and hungrily gulped in air. His eyes lowered to the floor before raising them to Dean's face.

"I'm sorry, Dean. I'm..very tired."

Bobby wore a concerned frown as he appraised the angel's condition. "Is it the visions?"

Castiel was finding the floor to be extraordinarily fascinating at the moment. "They are..difficult to bear."

Lucifer stared. "There have been more visions that no one else has been around to bear witness to, hasn't there?"

"Yes. And my visit to him when he was alone, may also have something to do with it."

The newcomer was none other than the girl who continued to show up around them. The ghost who didn't seem to have any intention of passing on anytime soon. She turned her attention onto the one she had spoken of.

"You have every right to be angry, Castiel. I'm sorry I couldn't give you a better answer."

"It was expected." Castiel admitted to her, meeting her gaze.

"I wish things could be different."

"So do I."

"Okay, could somebody please tell me what you two are talking about? Why are you suddenly all buddy buddy." It seemed Dean was back in action, to his regular self. "Look, I don't know who you are but I don't trust you so leave. I'm gonna start arming myself with rock salt in case you try to come back. Fair warning, bitch."

The girl turned to Dean. "So rude."

"Yeah, well, I'm with him." Sam informed her, coming to stand next to his brother.

Dean smiled at the spirit. "You heard him. Get on home, ghost."

"My name is Luna."

"It was nice knowing you, Luna, but what I said still stands. Go-home."

He pointed towards the doorway as though to emphasize his statement. She followed his finger towards the exit and then looked him straight in the eye, her own eyes suddenly filled with a deep sorrow. The kind that only comes from great loss and tragedy.

"I can never go home..." she murmured, and vanished on the spot.

Gabriel glowered at the two brothers but especially Dean. "Great guys. Don't you think it would have been nice if we could have maybe asked the friendly ghost lady a couple questions? Like why every demon we run into seems to know about her and her visits to us."

"Come on Sam, lets go get guns and rock salt ammo from the Impala." Dean stubbornly said, speaking as though nothing had been spoken to him.

"You get it," his brother told him, sparing him a glance before looking at Gabriel, brain obviously working overtime.

Dean had only been gone a few seconds when Sam seemed to find what he was searching his brain for.

"I think I know what we're dealing with. That spirit, I think she's a woman in white. Dean and I worked a job a few years back where a female spirit said that phrase, 'I can never go home'."

Bobby regarded the younger Winchester with at least a tad of intrigue. "Woman in white, huh? That means she had some kind of unfaithful husband or man in her life and in a temporary fit of insanity killed her own kid or kids. That girl couldn't be much older than sixteen or seventeen, how could she have had a kid, let alone a husband?"

Sam looked at a loss for words with that pointed out to him and he stewed over it, moving to take a seat. Gabriel still hadn't forgotten his opinion on the whole spirit situation.

"The dark one mentioned it to us voluntarily. It wanted us to know. Probably hoped we'd get rid of the spirit. Why'd they want her gone is the question we should be asking," the archangel observed.

Sam gave a little forced half-smile. "Dean's gonna do what he's gonna do. If that ghost shows up here again, he'll be fully prepared to blow it away."

Bobby chuckled. "I'm surprised he's not on the hunt for the poor girl's bones to be burned already."

"Hey," Dean had come back into the house carrying two shotguns presumably loaded up with rock salt shells. "That's not a bad idea. You should get started on that, Sammy."

Sam and Bobby exchanged looks and the older of the two rolled his eyes. Sam looked at his brother.

"We don't even have a last name, Dean. How do you propose we go about finding this dead girl's bones?"

"Uhh..luck?"

Now it was Sam's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, great plan. Now we've got her."

"Come to think of it, you and the ghost seemed pretty chummy there, Cas. What was that all about?" Dean questioned.

"In life, she had visions like I do now. In death, she can no longer show them to others so she comes to me instead." Castiel told him.

"Yeah but she was saying something to you," Sam began. "She said-"

"She told me something that involves only me. It is between us and I don't wish to discuss it with you, Sam." He shifted his eyes to the other brother. "Or you, Dean."

Dean eyed him and then caved. "Yeah, okay."

"Dean..I don't mean to push you away."

"Then why are you?" Snapped the Winchester, though he seemed more hurt than angry.

"I am an angel of the lord. If this is too much for me, then it would be overwhelming for you and Sam." Castiel moved his gaze to Bobby. "Bobby too. You are humans. You should not have to have the fate of the world rest on your shoulders."

"Yeah cause we've never had that happen." Bobby muttered, voice heavy with sarcasm before he became very serious. "These boys sacrificed everything they had to stop the apocalypse. They did it because of you, moron!"

Castiel blinked once. He clearly wasn't understanding what Bobby was saying to him. So the long-time hunter and father-like figure to the Winchester brothers cleared it up for the angel.

"You put your faith in humanity over Heaven, Cas. You showed these boys what was worth losing everything for. You gave up Heaven, the thing you cherished most, and they gave up one another for the good of people. You made a difference, Cas." The volume of Bobby's voice grew louder. "Realize that you matter and that you especially matter to these boys, then we can get past this self-flagellation you're having so much fun with and get to what we're going to do about this impending end of the world stuff!"

"But I don't."

Bobby looked annoyed. "You don't what?"

"I don't matter. Raphael, Gabriel, Lucifer...They're much stronger than me. Let them deal with the situation. You and Sam and Dean should stay out of this, out of harm's way."

Dean walked right up to Castiel and grabbed him by the collar of his coat with both hands. "We haven't given up on you so don't you give up on yourself, Cas."

The two stared each other in the eyes.

"Got it, Cas?" Dean asked after a long moment.

Castiel searched Dean's eyes and then placed a hand into his coat pocket, removing something. Dean released the angel's coat and took a step back to see what he was holding. There was a white and blue scrap of something in his hand. The green-eyed brother took it from him and looked it over.

"A hospital bracelet?" He squinted at the thing. "Luna Travers, Shadow Falls Asylum for the Mentally Disturbed."

Sam's face twisted a bit upon hearing that. "Great, she was insane. Certainly _sounds _like a woman in white."

"Where did you get that?" Bobby asked.

Castiel scuffed a shoe on the ground, hands in his pockets, staring at the ground with sudden interest. Lucifer reluctantly answered for him.

"I sent Crowley down to Hell and he got it for me. That's where the spirit escaped from it would seem."

"Might explain why the demons know about her." Bobby mentioned.

"Crowley is suddenly doing favors for you?" Sam asked, surprise evident in the question.

"He fears for his life, but sure, lets call it a favor," said the Devil.

Sam and Dean glared at Lucifer but they didn't say anything vocally. Satan didn't miss the terror they still felt in his presence and the great hostility they harbored towards him for what he'd done to make them suffer in the past. He also didn't care. He held no love for humans and never would. Though he had to admit to himself that Sam and Dean Winchester had showed him something he would have never imagined human beings to be capable of. Brotherly love so powerful they were each willing to sacrifice themselves to save the other.

Lucifer had witnessed this miraculous love himself right before he'd been forced back into his cage in Hell, standing in the cemetery that day where he had been prepared to face his brother in a fight to the death. In Heaven, he and his brothers, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael had loved each other like that. With such unconditional love and devotion that it had been the most wonderful thing to ever have. Until the day when he realized the truth. His brothers did not love him unconditionally.

When their Father had created the humans, asking the angels to bow down to the mortals, Lucifer had been furious. He loved his Father more than anything but he could not agree to worship such an imperfect race. Michael struck him down from Heaven. The older brother of his who was supposed to love him no matter what, knocked him down and called him horrible things. And now Satan knew there was something worthwhile in the humans that his Father had likely seen from the beginning. So he could understand why Castiel cared so much for humanity.

Unlike his brother Michael, who had betrayed him, he was able to love unconditionally. Castiel loved him unconditionally also. Despite everything Lucifer had done against the humans Castiel cared for so much and to the angel himself, he loved the Morningstar above all others. Therefore, Lucifer would not harm the human brothers and keep true to the deal he'd made with the young angel. The Light Bringer would also give his lover the kindness of working with the Winchesters should it be required of him. He owed the angel that much at least.

Bobby walked over to Dean and took the patient id bracelet from him. "Let me see what I can find on this hospital and the girl."

Gabriel, Balthazar, and Raphael disappeared back into the other room. Lucifer hesitated a moment longer before following the three humans who were going back into the living room after the angels. Castiel lingered the longest in the kitchen, staring out the kitchen window with a haunted look in his eyes. A look that no one saw. He decided if he wanted Dean to believe he really wanted trust returned between them, he would need to at least reveal something of what was bothering him and show he appreciated that Dean was trying to help him out, even if he'd rather Dean, his brother, and Bobby stay out of the whole disastrous mess headed their way.

"Dean."

"Yeah?" His tone was brisk towards the angel.

Castiel remained steady. "Thank you."

"Anytime." Dean replied quickly but the honesty was there.

The angel turned his head away, then back to Dean, well aware that everyone was listening along with the human. He didn't want to say it. He didn't want to cause Dean or any of the others to worry. But if things did turn out as he knew they would should he fail to stop the darkness, he couldn't let it happen without keeping the trust of Dean, his friend. Castiel had few friends and he didn't want to lose them. He didn't want to be alone in the end, like he would be, if he lost and the end he'd meet occurred. The reminder of the vision he saw brought the haunted look back into his eyes.

His eyes found Dean's, and only Dean's, not noticing the others watching him too. The decision had been made. He would be honest with him.

"Though you should know, if you knew what I knew, you would understand my despair."

Castiel walked away with Bobby, Sam, and Dean gawking after the angel. Balthazar and Gabriel followed after the angel immediately. It would be two days before the three angels returned to the others.


End file.
